Brothers
by XFurubaX
Summary: Drew's been drafted to Afghanistan, leaving Adam to help take care of his wife and baby girl. However the unbearable anxiety of Drew's fate leaves Adam with a choice.
1. Chapter 1

**XFurubaX: Hello everyone 3! I'm so happy you enjoyed my last fan-fiction. Once again I thank all my subscribers and readers for the support! This story in particular focuses on Adam and Drew years later after they graduate Degrassi, Drew is 28, and Adam is 27. Semi- AU. I just hope you enjoy this story as much as my others. I wanted to expand this chapter out in detail so sorry if it's a little slow.**

Wednesday July 17th, Drew was married this day to his girlfriend and later lover from his last 2 years of college Catherine Styron (now Torres). They were married at a beach in Long Island. Both he and Adam went to college there. However, Drew only attended a community college but majored in military and the JROTC program while Catherine majored in journalism. Adam attended New York University and was majoring in psychology. with one more year left. Drew was proud to say he proposed at the top of the Empire State building, as there was no way she could reject that. Sometime later the two settled down back in Toronto as it was both their hometowns.

Exactly 10 weeks after they were married, Cathy announced she was pregnant. Of course Drew thankfully lived through the mood swings and cravings. They found out they were having a little girl, then there was the naming problem. Cathy finally insisted they wait, saying a name will come to them the moment they see her. Catherine had somewhat dark skin like Drew, she had deep brown hair and green eyes, always wearing glasses however.

Of course 2 months after they found out it was a girl, she was born. Tuesday, May 22nd. They named her Emily.

Drew was sitting in the waiting room, waiting for Adam to walk in any minute. Adam would be graduating college in September but lucky for him, had the long weekend to finally visit. Adam walked in, looking for Drew. Drew smiled hugging him,

"You're a father now."

"Yeah, well you're an uncle." Drew smiled pulling away,

"Yes, and I'd like to meet my niece."

He took him into the room down the hallway where Cathy laid, she cradled Emily, only 15 inches long in her arms. She smiled at them when she heard the two walk in.

"Hey Adam."

He smiled and she kissed his cheek. He looked at Emily, dead asleep, fragile and tiny. She had a lot of hair for a newborn. Deep brown like Cathy's. He gently picked her up as not to wake her. He lost his ability to speak upon looking at her. She had such a pretty face. She couldn't figure out who she looked more like, her mother or her father.

"She's got her mother's lips." Cathy giggled, "And her mother's nose. The only thing left is the eyes." he whispered gently rocking her in his arms. He couldn't stop smiling, "She's so beautiful." Drew moved the pink blanket out of her face a bit, he kept asking himself who's eyes would she have. If she had everything else, she'd definitely have her mother's green eyes. Drew let out a charming grin,

"She does look like her mother." he grinned over at Cathy who was still smiling.

Adam was still holding her, gently smiling, "Well. Who knows, maybe you'll have-" Emily suddenly started crying, Adam sat down on the chair next to Cathy's hospital bed suddenly worrying "Oh no, ok ok…" he gently bounced her and shushed her. Cathy tried to lean over in the bed to see if she was alright but Drew picked her up,

"Let me see…" he whispered to her in a comforting tone. He held Emily, bouncing her to try to calm her down, "It's ok daddy's here-" suddenly he heard a gag and felt something hot on his shirt collar. He saw Adam's "Oh shit I'm going to laugh hysterically" face as Cathy laughed away. Emily spit up on his chest.

"Here," Cathy reached out, taking Emily. Adam looked at him, "I'm happy you took her Drew." Drew snickered although he was trying to wipe off the spit up with a tissue. Emily stopped crying however.

Cathy and Drew brought Emily home the next day and after two days of helping settle things out, Adam had another 3 hour flight back to school to finish up. Cathy hugged him goodbye, "You better come visit us."

"Absolutely!"

Drew then of course hugged him, "I'll see you around bro."

"You to." and he was off to the airport.

Not even a week after that, Emily opened her eyes. She laid in her play crib looking around the room, fascinated by everything there was to see. She had Drew's eyes. His deep brown eyes were the only trait he passed on to her. But she still couldn't look any more beautiful.

Cathy and Drew had bought her a few baby learning toys and stuffed animals. Cathy had gotten back into her slim figure, and now wrote for a living while Drew was attached to a military base in the Middle East. However things had been going great since the riots ended and he was sure he and his troupes wouldn't be needed for a _long _time. Currently he worked as a day trader to pay the bills and rent and things couldn't be any better. Emily still laid around 3 months later however that wasn't a problem as she was now gurgling and giggling at her parents.

At age of 18, Drew was signed up into the military, as he had been talking about it for nearly 5 years. He was happy to know his mother was listening when she brought it up for the first time when he was a senior in high school. He went to 3 years of boot camp and learned targeting, drilling and memorized each type of gun and each type of range by heart. However once it was over the first thing he wanted to do, was go to college. Therefore, he did, joining Adam down in the big apple.

"Ok now open your mouth." Cathy was feeding her that night for dinner. Emily was just staring at the spoon full of mush. "Come on…" right as she dropped her jaw to make an incoherent baby noise, she got the spoon in. "Good job!" She didn't have teeth yet, but boy was she getting hair. Still short, she may have gotten her mother's thin, brown hair, she had her father's hair line. Drew walked in through the front door.

"It's about time you got home."

"Sorry late day." he snickered, he walked in kissing her cheek. "Is Emily eating?"

"Yes! Just missed her third bite…" she saw an envelope in Drew's hand. Opened.

"What's that?"

Drew was confused until he noticed she could see the letter, he crumbled it in his fist, "Nothing." Cathy stood up,

"What is it?"

He walked over to the trash, "Nothing important." Before he could toss it, she grabbed it and un crumbled it, reading it completely drawn into the words. Drew bit his lip as he saw concern grow in her eyes. She snatched it down from her eyes looking up at him with her jaw dropped.

"Nothing?"

He sighed, "Something."

"DREW THIS CAN'T BE!" Emily's head shot towards her parents, not understanding anything as she picked at her little dissolving snacks on her feeding table.

"Just calm down!"

"NO!"

"It'll only be for a little while-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT-"

"Shh!"

Tears formed in her eyes, her face welted up. He held her, "Cathy," she started crying,

"Don't go. Please!"

Tears were in his eyes as well. Drew was drafted to Afghanistan. It was apparent that many Libyan people were trying to invade and overthrow Afghanistan and they were the only trained forces they had. He held her tighter,

"I have to. As much as I don't want to."

"But what about Emily? Huh?" she yelled forcefully, "She's only been in this world for 3 months and she's going to lose her father-"

"She might not!" he pulled back, "Remember, she might not." Cathy looked at him…the sorrowful, you don't know that look. Emily started wining, she dropped container of her little snacks and couldn't reach them. Drew walked over,

"Here you go sweetheart."

_That's _what she didn't want to lose. He looked back at her for a long time trying to give her a reassuring look and offered Emily some more of her snacks. The note said he was due in a week, the flight time was 13 hours, and Afghanistan was 8 hours and 30 minutes ahead of there time. He still had to figure out the flight plans due to as for the entire troupe getting there, it was everyman for himself. For the rest of the night, he held Emily tightly.

At 2 A.M. Drew finally decided to call Adam. He used his dorm number not wanting to use up Adam's cell phone minutes. He couldn't sleep, he kept sitting up and looking at the time wanting dawn to come so he could tell his brother. He finally decided to call him right then. Sneaking out of bed, past the nursery and downstairs where the home phone was.

Down in Manhattan, Adam and his roommate were dead asleep when the phone rang. His roommate jumped down from the top bunk, confused and aggravated as to who would be out of there minds to call someone at 2 in the morning. He picked it up quickly and whispered,

"Hello?"

"_Hey, who is this?"_

"Uh…it's Jeff." Drew had been told about Jeff, he'd been Adam's roommate for the past 6 years. Not a bad kid but Adam told Drew about his recklessness at times. Especially on their adventures…

"_Oh, listen I'm Adam's brother, I need to talk to him now."_

"Now?"

"_Yes."_

Jeff was hopelessly confused but he walked over to the bottom bunk where Adam was still dead to the world, he shook his shoulder,

"Adam."

He stirred, he shook harder.

"Adam."

"What?" he asked, sleepy and irritated and hoping it wasn't another one of his "Friday night adventures."

He held the phone out, "It's your brother."

Adam turned to his other side, "Yeah right."

"No! I'm serious he says he has to talk to you now." He sat up, taking the phone from him as Jeff crawled back up to the top bunk,

"Hello?"

"_Adam!"_

He was shocked, that was definitely Drew's voice.

"Drew?"

"_Listen…something's happened. I need you to come down for…I don't know how long."_

"Drew, I graduate in a month."

"_I know but I need you!"_

"What could possibly be that important?" Oh how he wanted to be asleep right then.

"_Look…Adam, I have to go to Afghanistan."_

Adam winced in confusion, then it hit him , "Funny Drew-" he always tried to deny bad news at first.

"_Now Adam, I need you to help Cathy take care of Emily._"

"Drew, you can't be serious-"

"_I am. Please, I don't care if it's tomorrow, I don't care if it's next week, I don't care if its next MONTH! Just get your butt down here because I HAVE to go."_

Adam was still in denial, "I…I don't believe this."

"_Yeah, me neither. Just, please…help take care of the baby, that's your sister-in-law and your niece."_

Adam sighed, it was either the sleepiness or the shock that was taunting him to say this, "And that's your wife and your daughter."

Adam swallowed thickly, regretting those words but knew how to make up for them, "I'll talk to my professor and see what's the quickest I can come…ok?"

"_Thank you."_

Adam rubbed his eyes, waiting to fall back out, "Ok. Good night-"

"_Adam!"_

It was the sleepiness that was saying this, "WHAT?"

"_I know I don't tell you this enough but…your…the best brother I could ever ask for…I wouldn't ask anyone else to do this."_

Adam stopped…that really was something Drew never said.

"Thanks…I'll let you know when I can come down." He hung up. Now he knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep. He laid in his bed, staring at the bottom of the top bunk. Jeff fell asleep a little too quickly for Adam's liking. He tried to fall back asleep but tossed and turned for the rest of the night. As did Drew in his own home.

The next morning, Cathy woke up to see Drew was out of bed. She almost had a heart-attack until she heard Emily's giggles from downstairs. She put on her glasses and walked down to find him feeding her breakfast. Cathy walked into the kitchen from behind, she noticed the way Emily always smiled when she saw her father. It wasn't the same when she smiled at her. She _knew _her father when she saw him. She snuck up behind Drew,

"Morning!"

He just turned to her and smirked, she should've known Drew was hard to scare. She kissed his cheek then let Emily wrap her tiny hand around her index finger.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked trying to keep a smile in front of Emily. He slowly slid the spoon into her mouth, feeding her the second to last bite.

"Yeah. I slept fine."

She crossed her arms in suspicion, "Really? Then why are you up?"

He scooped up the last of Emily's baby food as he found himself caught. "It's my turn to feed Emily." He fed her the last bite.

"Every morning for the past year that we've been married, your always dead asleep next to me. What makes you an early bird all the sudden?" As if she didn't know.

He put the now empty container into the trash bin and the baby's spoon into the sink. He sighed, "I called Adam, _late _last night and asked him to help you take care of Emily while I'm gone."

"You called Adam?"

He grabbed the nearest box of cereal he could from the cabinet, "Yeah." She didn't think this was a bad idea, but was still confused.

"But what about his school? Doesn't he get his masters degree in a few weeks?"

He got two bowls from the cabinet, "Want some?"

She waved a hand. Not really caring, "Yeah, yeah but how is he going to do that?"

He poured two bowls, "He said he was gonna talk to his professor."

She was starting to get irritated, "Are you not paying attention to the conversation at all?"

Drew sighed, caught in his shenanigans again, he turned around, "I'm trying to pretend none of this his happening right now." he commented with a serious tone, "So please, lets not discuss it the moment we get up."

Cathy looked at him, now worried. It finally came to her he hated it just as much as she did. She uncrossed her arms, "Ok…lets have breakfast." Drew nodded and smiled, liking that plan. Out of no where, Emily began to laugh and giggle. Cathy smiled adoringly and picked her up out of her seat,

"What? What's so funny?" she hugged her.

Back in New York University, Adam was in the middle of a 95 minute class with Professor Xavier. He was pretty strict about keeping people's mouths shut while he was lecturing and making sure everyone had _all _the notes. Adam had no problems with him. Straight A student and people always came to _him _for help on the study guides. It was high school all over again. Today however Adam kept getting distracted about Drew. He knew he was going to wait until after class to talk with him but he kept staring at the clock every few seconds although he was trying to focus on the power point. Then at one point he wandered off while writing and found the word "Afghanistan" on his notes.

Right as the power point was coming to an end, the bell rang and the 65 students in there left eagerly to the cafeteria all the way across campus. Adam wasn't among them as he was walking from his seat in the middle section to the professor's desk.

"Professor Xavier do you have a minute?"

He had sat down in his seat, grabbing a few un-graded papers. "Yes. What is it?"

"This is sort of, complicated to explain but…" he tried to laugh, but it came out more as a sign of crying.

"You need a seat?" He pulled out a chair from next to him,

"Yes thank you." he sat down dropping his bag, "Uh, my older brother, who lives in Toronto…he's." he had to pause, he was still in denial, "He's been drafted to Afghanistan."

Xavier's eyes widened, he took off his glasses in a sign of sympathy,

"Yes and, 3 months ago my niece was born. He's asked me to move in with his wife for a while…until things are over and he wants to know the soonest I can get there-"

"Go." Xavier exclaimed, straight and without hesitation. Adam winced in confusion however,

"What?"

"You said he needs you, so go. I can talk to your other professors."

Adam was still confused, "But, as appreciated that is sir," he uncomfortably sat up in his seat, "Graduations in a week and…if I don't get my diploma I wont-"

"We can mail it to you."

Adam was _still _confused, "Y-you can?"

"Yes. Now then…go."

Adam nodded, smiling, "Ok I will thank you so much!" he grabbed his bag and walked out of the building. He headed to his dorm, taking out the key from his pocket. He rushed in, throwing his bag down and grabbing a suit case from his last visit, he began to look through his closet for clothes to bring until he heard something shift in the top bunk, making him jump a little,

It was Jeff.

"Adam?

"Hey…" he had no idea why Jeff wasn't at lunch…nor why he hadn't gone to his classes but shrugged it off for the time being.

Jeff sat up from under the bed sheets, "What are you doing? Why are you here?"

He grabbed about 10 shirts, ripping the hangers out and shoved them into the baggage, "I can ask the same thing."

Jeff hopped down, "Why are you packing?"

"Happy graduation Jeff, I have to go to Toronto for a really, _really,_" he strained his voice reaching for a second suit case as he was running out of room, "Long time."

Jeff grabbed a shirt that had been thrown on the desk and threw it on although it was inside-out, "Why? What the hell's going on?"

Adam was throwing some more clothes in, as well as putting his tooth brush and other hygiene products in a plastic bag. "My brother's going to Afghanistan, I'm helping my sister-in-law take care of my niece."

Jeff got a spark of memory back, "Oh yeah little Emily. I remember."

Adam smiled upon thinking of her.

"You nervous about him going?"

Adam stopped, he shrugged, "Not really."

Jeff nodded, unconvinced, "Oh ok. Need a ride to the airport?"

Adam snorted, "We live in New York. I'll take a cab." He struggled to zip the second suitcase. Jeff watched as Adam struggled to remember what he was doing, "Crap! I need to buy a ticket, fuck what times are they?" he walked over, turning on Jeff's laptop.

"Hey man, if you need an extra buck, allow me to do the honors."

Adam looked back at him, this day just kept getting more confusing, "Really?"

"Yeah."

He just wanted him out of there so he could have his own room he thought, but in an emergency like this, he _had _to accept any offer he could get. "Thanks Jeff, I-I really owe you-"

He pushed Adam out of the way and logged on to find flight times, "It's nothin', just remember me by the adventures we had together…remember Times Square in our sophomore year?"

Adam didn't want to remember that. It was the first year Adam had a dorm with Jeff and he insisted they go for a little 'Friday night fun". Adam thought he meant go to Brooklyn and get pizza but by midnight they ended up in a chase with a coupler of ramblers.

They were admiring everything at Times Square when Jeff started picking on Adam for being a 'pussy'. To prove a point, Adam said he and Jeff should cut through a back alley to avoid crowds. Boy did he learn his lesson as did Jeff.

Never go through a back alley in New York, and never call Adam a 'pussy'.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Adam's flight left at 10:30 in the morning and he arrived at about 1:50. However it cost him an extra 20 minutes as the plane had to find a free docking area to unload. Drew was supposed to pick him up there but Adam insisted he take a cab. The whole New York thing really rubbed off on him. They dropped him off at the neighborhood gate and he walked around for five minutes trying to remember which house was Drew's.

He had a warm welcome, as he hadn't seen his new family in 3 months. They mainly spend the rest of the afternoon talking about their college memories. Emily was napping when Adam arrived but the moment they found her awake, Adam picked her up. She immediately spit out her pacifier and started giggling. Adam laughed with her as he playfully bounced her,

"She's gotten so much hair."

Drew was standing in the room with him, "Notice anything about her?"

Emily made a grab for Adam's front bangs as he gently moved her hand away, "Besides the fact that she's a social butterfly?" Adam continued to playfully lift her in the air as she squealed in delight. Drew smirked, laughing to himself.

"What?"

"Look at her eyes Adam."

He held her in his arms, looking at them, he realized what Drew was trying to say, "There brown like yours." he marked unable to stop smiling at her. Drew walked in, Adam handed her to him, Drew cradled her in his arms, rocking her. Emily looked right back into his eyes…for some reason the giggling stopped as Drew began to frown. As if she knew what he was thinking. She knew he was sad about something. Adam's smile faded as well, looking at the floor,

"You know…this isn't easy for me either…" his eyes wandered into the crib, her red and white blanket and baby pillow along with a small kitten stuffed animal laid in there. "I'm actually really scared." he looked back up. Drew seemed tranced as he looked at Emily. She stared right back in silence. Even though he wasn't saying anything, he knew what Drew was thinking. He didn't want to leave his new family either. Adam found himself watching Drew look at Emily…as Emily stared at her daddy in wonder.

Later that night Adam had gotten settled and would sleep in the guest bedroom, Drew woke up in the middle of the night when he heard Emily crying. Cathy was asleep next to him, tired. He walked into the nursery to find that her night light went out. The dark for some reason made Emily intensely uncomfortable. Most likely due to the fact she was just a baby. He saw it was plugged in, meaning it blew. He reached in and picked her up. He gently rocked her and shushed her until she calmed down. He found him in a position that seemed like she was hugging him. Her tiny arms barely wrapped around his neck. He wasn't going to leave her in the dark. He carried her into him and Cathy's room, laying her down in between their heads. He let her suck on his index finger for a short time but eventually fell out before she did, not even realizing she was still doing so. She didn't fall asleep until an hour later.

As he was laying there however, he kept asking himself "What kind of father am I? Leaving my wife and daughter to something that I could lose my life to? Worse, putting my brother in this weird position." He woke up that morning but his wife and Emily were out of bed. He could hear her and Adam talking downstairs and Emily's gurgling. He walked down and Cathy offered him coffee. He saw Adam wiping Emily's mouth,

"You fed her already?"

Adam snickered, "Yup."

"What time is it?"

Cathy looked at the clock on the oven, "9:30, you were definitely sleeping last night."

Drew grinned, taking the coffee cup from her and kissing her on the lips.

"I could here you snoring from all the way down here." Adam mocked, having not lost his enjoyment for making fun of Drew when he can. Drew rolled his eyes. He walked over to Emily's high chair, smiling as he sipped his coffee, ticking her chin as she giggled.

Adam sipped his, "You know for 3 month old, she laughs a lot."

"I guess she must be a happy child."

Adam lost his grin, "Do you think she'll still be like this when you leave?"

Cathy paused on stirring the cream into her coffee as Drew lost his smile.

"I hope so." he forced down the rest of his coffee with the bottom up. He set the cup in the sink before walking into the laundry room.

In it were some unpacked suit cases from when he and Cathy left New York. He grabbed one that he shoved in one of the cabinets above along with other miscellaneous junk. He opened up with one thing in it, his camouflage army suit from boot camp. It still had the same dirt stains from almost 6 years ago. He hadn't touched it since. He closed the door, locking it.

About 15 minutes he was in there, Cathy left Adam with Emily as she knocked on the door.

"Drew?"

"Yeah?" he was pinning on the badge the sergeant gave him after he finished.

"What are you doing?"

He opened the door, fully dressed in his suit. Cathy scanned him in awe, once again realizing it really was happening. Drew looked at her, unable to muster a smile. She realized the pin he had been struggling to put on was falling off. "Here,"

She put it on properly, Adam walked by with Emily in one arm and a toy of hers in the other, also shocked to see Drew in his suit. He nodded at Adam, "Want to go for a ride?"

Adam breathed in, "You mean… to the airport?" he mumbled unable to hear himself.

Drew nodded. "Yeah…" Adam still couldn't take it.

It was now dusk, Drew had packed everything he needed and was hugging and kissing Cathy goodbye. He rubbed Emily's head as she smiled at him with her mouth wide open. He picked her up from her play area and held her closely. The smile on Emily faded. Adam watched from the front door as Drew built tears in his eyes. He couldn't let her go, he's only known his daughter for 3 months. However if he didn't he'd miss his flight. He heard her babble out baby noises as he tried to hold his tears back,

"I love you." he held Emily out, a single tear escaped as he smiled at her. He set her back down to play as she hugged Cathy one last time, tears pouring out of her eyes. Adam still couldn't look at it. He slowly turned away looking at the car outside, knowing it was his turn to cry later. After about 3 minutes, he felt a hand on his shoulder,

"Lets go." he whispered walking to the car. Adam could see the tears drying on his face. The drive there however seemed like an eternity, neither one of them talked. Adam didn't even glance at him. Not even as Drew handed in his ticket and checked his baggage in.

Adam sat next to him waiting for the announcement for Drew's flight. He stared at the ground, he realized his hands were shaking.

"Adam?"

Adam finally mustered up the strength to look at him, "Yeah?"

"You're gonna take great care of them I know it." he reassured with a smile.

Adam finally felt the tears coming, he smiled, "Thanks…"

They called, flight 27 now boarding it said, repeating once. He stood up. Adam held him in a tight embrace. Tears slowly falling out he took a heavy breath,

"I love you Andrew."

Drew held him out, showing him a deep smile, "I love you to." He slowly slid his hand out of Adam's as he walked into the plane, looking back at him for the longest time until he was finally gone. Adam sat back down, forcefully wiping the tears away and stayed until his plane took off.

However on the way back he started up all over again…


	2. Chapter 2

"Adam."

"What?"

"Are you Adam Torres?"

Adam stood in front of the two soldiers, covered in dirt and towering over him, they looked at him with intimidating expressions.

"Y-yes."

"Good." They took him outside of the building, it was pitch black out, even the moon's dim light wasn't helping. There, he saw Drew, bound and gagged to a flag pole. He started to panic,

"W-What is this-"

The man rested, or slapped, a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down."

The other man walked up to him, he had a knife to Drew's neck, apparently knocked out. There was another man, he had some sort of gun in his hand along with a gasoline tank,

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING-"

"Choose!"

Adam stopped, there was no point in fighting against the 6'7" man. He didn't want to know what he meant, "What?"

"**CHOOSE!**" he yelled more harshly.

Adam knew what he meant, but he didn't _want _to know.

"Choose what?"

"BURN OR SLASHED? Either you choose one for him or its both!"

Adam felt his knees crumpling, he began to sink to the floor, "I cant choose…" he began to scream, "I CANT CHOOSE!"

"Fine! Do it both! Now!"

"NO! Slash! Slash him!" it would be quick and painless he hoped. He watched the man slice Drew's throat open, bleeding out, Adam was unable to pick himself back up.

Then a phone rang.

It was broad daylight, Adam was hanging off the side of his bed, his sheets had been knocked all around and his pillow was damp with sweat. He looked around at the room for a second, then he heard the house phone ring a second time before hearing Cathy answer it. He sat up, wiping the sweat from his hair and he got out, remaking the sheets.

It had been a week since Drew left. And each dream kept getting worse. _This _one in particular was _the _worst. To choose how his brother would die? Adam swore he would've urinated himself. They hadn't heard anything from Drew, which was a good thing in the army. He knew Drew better than that, he would _not _let anything stand in his way. He sat on the bed and kept thinking about the nights dream, he told them to slash Drew.

He was in a panic he kept telling himself, it had been so vivid, he felt the fear, he felt the sand of the ground when he fell. He wished he hadn't looked when he cut Drew's throat…even his own subconscious mind had disturbing fears.

He heard Cathy walk in, "Your awake?"

Adam rubbed his eyes, "Not yet…"

Cathy could see it in his eyes, he didn't sleep at all the night before. She didn't say anything. Adam stood up, trying to smile "I'm gonna take a shower, is Emily up?"

"No, not yet." She fumbled with her finger nail.

Emily hadn't been napping as much as she should, ever since Drew left, she bubble and giggle every here or there, but no where near as much as she used to. He scrubbed himself clean, although he kept spacing out. He always spaced out when he was tired. The hot water didn't make a difference. After a short, 4 minute shower he stepped out, he could hear Emily's giggling as Cathy picked her up out of her crib. He dried himself, throwing on some fresh day clothes, the long sleeved shirt and jeans he'd wear in New York's freezing weather and did his usual morning hygienic routine, the one that used to bug the shit out of Jeff.

When he got down, Emily was in her high chair, picking at her little bites and Cathy was stirring the coffee beans. He knelt down at Emily,

"Good morning sweetheart."

Emily had a little piece of her treat in her hand, she started bouncing in excitement, giggling at him,

"Want coffee Adam?" She was about to grab a second cup,

"Yes, thanks."

It was so weird, living with a girl and baby as if it was _his _family. Good practice he supposed, but he kept telling himself he loved those people, so therefore, they were his family. Emily wrapped her tiny hand around Adam's index finger. She held out the treat in her hand to him. He was confused.

"What?" he asked, tickling her neck. She crooked her head down laughing. She still held the treat to his mouth. Now he got it.

"That's yours." he playfully stated, tickling the other side of her neck, she laughed even more. She still held it out, wining a little.

He snickered, "Ok, ok." he took it from her, "Thank you." he stood up, he heard Cathy pouring the coffee, he held the treat out in front of her, "For you." she held it in two fingers as Adam took his coffee.

Emily played all morning while Cathy typed out the manuscript of her next story, _The Afterlife_. It was the story of a man who makes a deal with the devil to return to the land of the living in order to be with his wife. His fate is to exist as a hell spawn until he finds 'the ultimate weapon' for the devil himself. Adam insisted the title be "Spawn" after she told him this, unfortunately, her editor always told her, once she has a title, that's the title.

Adam laid on the couch with Emily on his chest as she fumbled around with one of her toys. He was watching the news, mainly about politics and the latest disappearance of a young boy in Minnesota. He kept getting distracted and forgot Emily was there until he heard a baby noise from her every now and then. Adam had been keeping a good eye on her. She seemed to enjoy Adam's company, as he was the closest thing to her dad. She never wined or complained when Adam was near, however she never did anything of the sort when anyone was near, but show off how cute she was.

Adam was nothing like that as a baby according to his mother. Always reserved and quiet, in large companies, Adam's mother would hold him the entire time as Adam had his head down no matter how people adored him. He'd only smile at his family.

Drew however, was the showoff of the family. Like Emily, always giggling at everyone, showing how cute he was. At times however, people found Adam's shyness much cuter, and much to Adam's surprise, Drew at one point was jealous of Adam. However at the same time, Adam envied Drew's ability to speak to strangers, which he later grew into later in life.

Adam felt the softest smack on his cheek, he forward, Emily's pacifier slowly falling out with the biggest smile on her face, he could dare anyone to try and not to smile right then,

"What is it?" he lifted her above him, she squealed in delight, moving her arms and legs around. He sat upward, holding her close to his chest. She seemed to embrace him, arms reached out with her hands trying to reach his neck. He lifted her a little more, bouncing her on his knee. Then she got the look on her face, her mouth quivered, he stood up confused, she was happy just a second ago,

"What's wrong?" she began crying, "It's ok…shhh," he gently rocked her around. Cathy walked out from the office and Adam continued to rock her, "Is that a wet cry or a hungry cry?" Cathy rubbed her head,

"It's a tired cry, she needs a nap." She went to grab Emily but Adam backed away,

"Oh no, I'll do it."

Cathy winced, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have my own one day…" hopefully.

After Adam walked upstairs with a crying Emily to the nursery, she worked more on the manuscript, getting writers block every few seconds. She finally gave up, giving a headache. She went out into the kitchen with the glass of sweet iced tea and took two of her ibuprofens, (her pain killers). It may have taken her five minutes to realize but Emily's crying had stopped. She quietly walked up the stairs, peeking into the nursery, Adam was in the rocking chair with her wrapped in her favorite blanket, he held her closely she heard him singing softly,

"All my life to sacrifice…Hey oh, this is what I say oh, I got your hey oh, now listen what I say oh,"

She remembered on the three's last car trip to the grocery store, that song came on, and Emily burst out into giggles. She was surprised how Adam could turn a soft rock song into a lullaby. Emily was fast asleep, her soft tummy slowly rising and falling. She watched as he laid her down in her crib, kissing her head, Cathy wanted to see if _he _scared easily. She scooted down the wall in the hallway and waited until he closed the door just a crack, she snuck closer,

"How hard was that?" she asked jumping her voice, Adam's head flinched over to her, proving her point. He smiled,

"Actually, not as bad as I thought."

She smiled, "You deserve a Grammy." she joked.

"I'd like to thank the academy and Emily Torres." he snickered. Cathy's smile faded, "What's wrong?"

"How have you been feeling?"

Adam tried to act confused, "Fine why?"

Cathy crossed her arms, not doing much due to the fact Adam towered over _her_. "I heard you screaming in your sleep…I thought you were possessed-"

"Wait, I really did scream?"

He saw a cocky grin on her face, "No, but now I know something's up." she put her hands on her hips. They sat down in the middle of the hallway, leaning against the wall, Adam finally explained the past few nights to her,

"Then, that's the end of that one. But last night, I swear to god it felt so real."

Cathy leaned forward, "These two soldiers have Drew kidnapped and, they tell me, either they can light him on fire and let him burn or they can cut his throat. The catch, its up to me." She flinched, "I had to _choose _how my brothers supposed to die. Otherwise they were going to do both.

"My god, the phone woke me up this morning thank god. I was drenched in sweat."

"Thank my editor." she smirked. Adam tried to smile, but went back to talking,

"I know he's ok…but I keep worrying."

She put a hand on his shoulder, "Because you're his little brother." Cathy stood up, "In fact, when Emily gets up, lets get out mind off things, I have the perfect idea." She walked into the master bedroom to get dressed.

Later in the afternoon when it was cooler, they drove down to the beach. They could see everything out there, a few airboats flying by slicing the water in half, kayakers and small schools of fish out in the water. The sun hit their faces as the three looked out in amazement. Emily squealed excitedly over and over, waving her arms out towards the ocean. Adam held her up higher,

"You want to go?" Emily giggled, which was baby for 'yes'.

Cathy grabbed his shoulder, "I don't know Adam-"

"C'mon be adventurous!" he walked out just where the tide came in. He knelt down, letting Emily's feet touch the wet sand. She flinched it upward, but did let her foot down again, laughing. He looked over at Cathy,

"She loves it!" he called. She smiled, walking over. He was holding Emily around her waist, her feet playing around on the water as the waves came in. Cathy smiled when she saw Emily laughing. She took out her camera she brought, taking a picture of her,

"Drew would love to see pictures of her."

Adam picked her up as Cathy backed up, Adam didn't realize she was taking a picture and lifted Emily in the air as she smiled in delight. He brought her back down, lifting her up and down playfully.

"Adam!" she walked over, holding the camera in front of his face, in the picture, was a close up of him holding Emily up right when he first lifted her, she was smiling perfectly. It was one of those pictures that if he tried to do it again for a picture, it wouldn't be the same.

Adam held her closer, still reaching to go back in the water, "Drew would love that…if it was him holding her up…" Cathy frowned and the two became tranced in the picture before she shook her head,

"No! We're here to have fun! To-to relax for a day." Adam nodded,

"Right!" The three walked back out to shore once again, letting Emily dip her feet.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Out in Afghanistan, it was 1 A.M. no one out on the streets, only about 3 stores open. Silence was peaceful but frightening at the same time for the troupes, they stood guard on high alert. They all whispered in fluent Persian. Some of the troupes not speaking English, they had to have Persian as they're absolute _second _language. It took Drew two years to master Persian. It was simple memorization. However he wasn't among the guarding soldiers although he was supposed to be. He was behind the guard railing outside his shelter, laying, in a dream.

It was a dream of holding Emily, back in the comforts of his living room, the beautiful dark haired woman that was his wife, in a beautiful, white-silk dress made the dinner as he did. Emily's beautiful smile as he bounced her. He told Emily he's home, everything was ok now. She giggled just as he thought she would…

"Torres."

The picture wavered, starting to break up. He tried to hold on to the beautiful image.

"Torres."

The picture began to darken as the voice began to slice its way into the dream.

"Torres!"

He jerked up, "What? What?" he was awake, unhappy that in 10 minutes he wouldn't remember his dream.

"Wake up."

It was the Sergeant Cassel. 6'7", muscles that could intimidate the Hulk and a voice so deep that it made the others like they were still going through puberty. Drew didn't mean to fall asleep, he lifted himself up, not even daring to try and size up to Cassel,

"I'm sorry-"

"Just don't do it again…if we were attacked you would've been the first to go." He pushed him to the others at the base on the other side of camp, "Now maybe they'll keep you awake." the others laughed as Drew joined the guard,

"Tired Torres?" his partner and arguably, closest friend since boot-camp Turner mocked. The other two laughed as he elbowed Drew, "Come on! You gotta stay up. The Libyans made it to the country lines half an hour ago."

Drew had to get it out, all the melting feelings inside him were too much on top of all this, "Do you have a kid Turner?"

The others stopped laughing as Turner turned to him rather than the blackness of their camp, "Not yet-"

"I do." he looked at him, "She's 3 months old and the most beautiful girl you'll ever see. I'd do anything to be home and to have her in my arms right now."

Turner looked away in both guilt and sympathy, the others went back to keeping an eye out for Libyan troupes. One of the five of them couldn't keep their mouths shut,

"Just wait until she's 16." all except Turner laughed. Drew still had his temper, he beamed the back of his helmet with the nose of his rifle.

"Ow! Ok I'm sorry."

"Your just lucky this thing isn't cocked." Turner snickered at that.

In Toronto, it was now 7 at night, the three had just arrived home from the beach. Emily had so much fun, Cathy finally decided she'd send Drew the picture of her holding a seashell. She was asleep in her car seat as Adam quietly unbuckled her, carrying her in with her head on his shoulder.

"I'll put her to bed." he whispered walking upstairs.

That night as he was in bed however, he turned and tossed around in bed, breathing heavily, "Wha-wa-where's…where's-where's my brother?" he mumbled in his sleep, sweat seeped through his night clothes, "No-no…he's-" he was dreaming of shoving through crowds of people, trying to find his brother, "He's not dead…no!" he was about to fall off the bed, in his dream, he could no longer understand their language, suddenly he heard crying, snapping him out of his dream. He sat up, slowly realizing it was over. He realized Emily was crying.

Cathy was slowly pulling herself out of bed, she woke up when she made it to the nursery. She found Adam there, holding her and gently rocking her back and forth, "Shh…its ok…" he realized it was his yelling in his nightmare that woke her up, he figured he should do the honors, "I'm sorry…" he whispered, "Uncle Adam just had a bad dream." The crying began to tone down as Cathy watched from the hallway, he kissed her head as she finally stopped.

Now it was time to get her to sleep, he thought Cathy was still in bed, and sat down in the rocking chair singing softly,

"Come to decide that things that I tried…Were in my life just to get high on…When I sit alone come get a little known…"

Cathy listened in to his soft, peaceful singing as Emily was lulled to sleep. She hadn't heard him scream in his sleep downstairs, but for one thing, she knew he was just like his brother…and he was going to make a great father some day.

**XFurubaX: This is all for the second chapter! =) If anyone wants to know; the song Adam is singing is called "Snow (Hey Oh)" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers**


	3. Chapter 3

Adam babysat Emily the next morning when Cathy went out to show her editor the manuscript. Currently Emily was doing nothing but holding onto Adam's index finger. Looking at it like it was nothing's she's ever seen. She started sucking on it, Adam could barely feel her first tooth coming in. He smiled at her, he grabbed her pacifier,

"Here." he put it in her mouth, she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, reminding him of Drew more.

When Cathy wasn't around, he had absolutely no one to talk to. Not since high school was over anyway.

After Eli graduated, he got accepted into an arts university in California the lucky bastard. While he promised he'd keep contact, they haven't talked since. Clare was out in the world somewhere, completing her life long dream of traveling. What her career was, Adam didn't know. He was actually shocked when Eli and Clare went their separate ways. He was sure Clare would be rolling on the floor in heart break once he left. Adam was also fine with Wesley, Connor and Dave. However, they weren't exactly the 'socializing' type anyway.

He'd know.

He'd been stuck with Wesley since 5th grade all the way to high school graduation.

Then Dave…he remember he invited him over _once_…then his mother told him to never invite him over again. He liked Dave, but he's not an outside school type of person he'd want to be with.

Currently, he had Emily, Cathy, and his brother. And that was a _lot _for him. It suddenly hit him that hadn't told his parents about Drew leaving. No! he thought, then she'd be coming down and…lets just say Emily was _not _ready to _live _with her grandmother just yet. He'd tell her if things were going wrong…in which everything was going great.

At least he thought. He heard Emily wining. He looked down, she looked scared of something, he held her,

"What? What's wrong buddy?" he bounced her.

She suddenly stopped. He lifted her higher and kissed her cheek. She was so…soft. He smiled at her again. He suddenly drifted off, thinking about Drew. What time was it in Afghanistan right now he thought. It was 9:30 in the morning, Afghanistan was 8 hours and 30 minutes ahead…it would be about 5 in the afternoon. How weird, they had just woken up, and Afghani's were finding places to have dinner. He wished telepathy existed at that moment,

He'd be able to talk to Drew. His usual weird little fantasies. If he could just hear Drew's voice at that moment, he'd feel so much better. But all he could do was hope that everything was fine.

Until then, he'd keep his promise, and make sure his baby girl was doing fine.

Out in Afghanistan, the sun was slowly falling, it beamed down on the soldier's faces as the helmets were no help. No attacks appeared the night before, much to their surprise. Currently they were scouting about their base, groups scattered around every corner, Drew was with Turner.

"Drew, this is weird." They were circling the multiple shelters where they slept (if they ever had time).

"How so?" They had their guns tucked under their arms, loaded and un-cocked just incase.

"The Libyans arrived over 15 hours ago, why haven't they attacked us yet?" The uneasy tone in his voice was stressing Drew out,

"Man, I know! Just calm down! They want to catch us off guard,", he looked around both ways, "So that's why its our job to _be _on guard." They turned left,

"Ok, I know. It's just, I'm not exactly that used to being shot at, and I think if we were off guard, we'd be in deep-" Out of no where, there was an explosion about 3 feet away from them, the two fell into the dirt below, "SHIT!"

All of the other guards frenzied, running in every direction, people shouting in Persian, English, and unfamiliar voices shouting in Arabic. There were swarms of Libyans appearing through the dust cloud. Drew lifted Turner by the neck of his shoulder,

"I THINK THERE HERE!" He could hear gunshots, Drew aimed, he saw one, right in front of him, like a ghost rising out of the mist. He shot…clean in the head. It was over for that one, "TURNER, FIND MORE!" they ran their separate ways.

Drew, Turner and about 300 more soldiers fired, re-loaded, fired, re-loaded, and repeat. It was safe to say they were winning. That is, until Drew saw the man directly next to him get a bullet, straight through the chest. It was over for him. The attackers started to get confident and were stampeding towards them. Drew was the first to jump out of hiding and attack. Turner the second, the rest of the army followed, Libyans getting shot, pinned down, beamed in the head with guns, and vice versa for the other troupe. Although it didn't matter who won at this point, things were getting ugly for the day.

Cathy came home to find Adam asleep on the couch. She shook his shoulder, he let out a shocked gasp. After he put Emily down for a nap, he found himself taking one as well, he startled Cathy himself by that awakening. He figured out where he was and sat up,

"Hey, how'd your story go?"

Cathy held the copy of the manuscript in her hand, confused as why Adam was acting like he was fine, "Oh-fine."

It was eleven in the morning, she'd been gone for 3 hours. She wondered if Emily was at her breaking point or not and rushed home. Apparently not. She sat next to him,

"You ok?" she put a hand on his shoulder,

"I'm fine. Why?"

She pursed her lips, raising a brow. She knew that he knew damn well why she asked.

"Just…bad dream." he shook his head in defeat, "ok?"

She rubbed his shoulder, a comforting expression, "What happened?"

"Just-" he bit his tongue, "Nothing…just a stupid dream. Ok?"

"Was Drew in it?"

Adam didn't respond, giving her the answer. She rubbed it a little more, patting his back in comfort. She stood up and walked to the kitchen, "Maybe coffee will help."

Adam was just staring at the carpet floor, "Thanks." he rubbed his eyes.

After the coffee woke him back up, the two ended up talking about how her editor said _The Afterlife _was a definite publish. Over 30,000 paperbacks would be made and 20,000 hardbacks. Her first success after years of trying and trying. Adam congratulated her. Cathy was giggling in modesty,

"No really! That's great! So when do I get to read it?"

"In a matter of 3 weeks." she smiled.

They suddenly heard baby noises from the nursery upstairs, "That's our cue." The two walked up. Cathy was the one to pick her up,

"Hey honey! Did you miss me?" she put her face closer to Emily's. "Did you miss mommy?" she bounced her as Emily laughed. Adam rubbed Emily's (or what was going to be) hair.

They took her downstairs to play for a few hours while Cathy actually had time to catch up on her shows, Adam watched along with her until he remembered,

"Did you send that picture to Drew?"

Cathy suddenly jumped a little, "Oh! No, in fact, the envelopes on the kitchen counter; addressed and everything, can you put it in the mail for me?" Adam nodded,

"Yeah. Sure." He found it hidden in a small pile of magazines and walked out to the mailbox, it may have taken him a second but the flag was up. He put it down and opened it.

An envelope… just one. Nothing else. He took it out, it was blank on the visible side until he turned it around, it said,

**تحريك تورس تورنتو**

Adam winced in hopeless confusion, then he realized, it was written in Persian…one of the Afghani languages.

He opened it up, unfolding the paper three times, it was a letter. Written in English thank god. After reading it, Adam just stood there. Dropping the envelope in his hand, landing heavily on the driveway. He stared at the note, reading it three times and still not believing it. Cathy didn't notice Adam was still outside as she was upstairs with Emily. Adam walked in, still in a trance,

"Hey…you didn't send the…"

He held up the letter.

-X-

They were all downstairs, Emily in her play crib and Adam and Cathy in the kitchen,

The note said;

_Dear,_

_Cathy Adam and Emily,_

_Things aren't going too well here. Our camp was attacked by surprise a while ago…We are fine but as for recovery of the base most of us are gonna be sleeping on the cold, damp dirt. Trainings good, the last attack we lost 3 people at the most as it was only a few rookie Libyans. However, once the real deal arrives…well, I'm not sure what will happen._

_For Adam, I want to thank you for taking care of my wife, and my daughter. I hope to hear from you or Cathy. _

_To Emily, tell her daddy loves her and misses her and he knows he will be home once everything's over._

_I love you, Adam, Cathy, and Emily,_

_Andrew Torres_

This was Adam's fifth time reading it and he still couldn't find the right words to respond with. Nor could Cathy as she stared at it with her mouth slightly open. She struggled to put her words together,

"Ah-w-wa-well…what…what are we going to do?"

Adam still couldn't speak. He was knocked back into being pre-verbal. He read the note one last time before he finally forced himself to turn away…one of the men that died that day could've been Drew he kept thinking, he knew it wasn't but he kept asking himself what if it was. What would've happened if Drew did die and they didn't get that letter? He found himself laying on his side in his bed. His brain was turning into mush with all the negative thoughts that kept repeating over and over and over. Up to the point where he covered his ears and buried his face into the pillow. No sound was breaking in nor could he try to daydream of something else. He at least wanted his mind blank.

Blank…nothing good…nothing bad either.

Drew needed him he kept saying…but he also needed him to take care of one of the two people he loved most in the world. But currently, Drew was the person he cared most about in the world. He had to do something…letters don't stop the Libyans from invading he thought…nothing would…

He still kept asking himself what was he supposed to do. He was racing back and forth between the two choices he now had…a never ending race between 'yes' or 'no'.

"_When I wake up…" _he thought bitterly to himself, _"The first thing I think when I wake up…I'll choose that."_

And he fell into a forced sleep.

In Afghanistan, it was pitch black out, some of the injured soldiers were recovering while the rest had to sleep outside on the ground. Drew was happy he'd be able to rest and not get penalized for it. He shared a shelter with Turner, who slept in the bunk next to his.

"What a fucking day!" Turner plopped down back-first onto the bed.

Drew unbuckled his helmet, "You can say that again…" the two were covered in bruises, gashes and dirt. Ironically, mostly dirt.

Turner sat up, "Holy shit! I don't know how I'm gonna sleep tonight I mean, what if we get bombed-?"

"Please don't talk about this right now!" Drew yelled, looking at his reflection in his helmet.

"Ok sorry." Turner took off his helmet, "What's with you? You alright?"

"I'm fine." Drew sighed, "I'm fine. I'm just, tired."

Turner looked at the inside of his helmet,

"You know Turner, I can't stop thinking…I mean, as a soldier all your supposed to do is FOCUS and AIM and FIRE! But I keep thinking about-" he saw Turner was drawn into the inside of his helmet, Drew walked over and sat next to him. Inside of Turner's helmet was a photo of him and his younger brother, only 13, taped to the top of his helmet. Drew sighed, knowing what was going on with _him_.

"Funny, there _is _something you worry about."

Turner chuckled, "He always looked up to me…and before I left for Afghanistan, he told me there was one thing he always wanted from me…my badge from boot camp." Drew looked closer, on the picture, Turner's brother had on his badge, "But as long as this picture remains undamaged…and untouched," he turned his helmet over, "I know he's ok." he sighed.

Drew patted his back, "Hey, I bet he's a good kid. He's doing fine I bet…" Turner smiled, but Drew looked over at the wall,

"It's that Emily is too young to understand that her dad may never come home…it's so weird…she hasn't even been in this world for that long and she barely knows me…yet whenever she looks at me…it's like she does. As in, she knows I exist…like I'm there." He looked at Turner, "Do you get what I'm saying?"

Turner nodded, "Yeah man…" his smiled dropped, "No…no."

The two laughed, Drew walked over to his bed as Turner went to kill the lights, "Night."

"Night."

The next morning when Drew awoke the next morning, Turner was still dead asleep, he looked out the doors of his shelter, the sun was just rising, very few soldiers were standing guard. He got dressed back into his uniform and latched his helmet on…grabbing his gun. When he walked out, sergeant Cassel was outside his shelter,

"Any sign sir?" he asked in the most powerful voice he could muster,

"Not yet…just wait until given orders." he walked off to the other shelter. Drew stood guard outside his shelter doors for the rest of the morning.

Finally, after hours of target practice, Drew decided to break for just a minute and get a bite to eat. There was very little food where they were, but all he wanted was water at that point. When he arrived to the small 'café' they made up, there were only two other soldiers there, having a conversation in Persian. Drew grabbed whatever bottle of water he could find and swallowed nearly the entire thing. It was hot and old tasting but he didn't give a fuck. Water was water.

"Torres?"

He wiped his mouth, turning around. It was a fellow soldier, "Yes?"

"We need you to come with us…" Drew was confused but he swallowed what was left of the water and followed them.

They were a mile away from camp and Drew finally asked, "What is this? Where are we going?" Ahead of him, he saw a small shack where the soldiers checked in and where relatives dropped off letters and other miscellaneous items. He was inside, it was crowded and unbelievably hot. He could hardly breathe in there. At the counter where a few Afghani men took in the deliveries, he saw someone look at him,

"…Adam?"

Adam was there, he could see tears in his eyes, albeit smiling, "Drew!" he ran over through the crowd,

"Adam I-" he was stopped when Adam suddenly squeezed him, he cried,

"Your ok!"

Drew held him tightly, delighted and happy to see him…but confused and worried at the same time, "Yeah…I am."


	4. Chapter 4

"Why the hell are you here?" They were sitting inside the shack which was now a little less crowded.

"Well, after that letter you sent I kind of panicked." Adam said truthfully. Drew sat up a little more,

"What about Cathy and Emily?"

"They're ok. I told them I'd be back in a few days and I just wanted to check in."

Drew sighed in frustration, as happy he was to see his brother after weeks of being gone, he wished he could know he was safe at home, "Where are you staying?"

"At this really nice hotel in Kabul. Not too far from here." he rubbed his eyes, "Still not used to the time change." he commented, tired.

Drew sighed once again, while Adam was here, he figured he'd ask, "So…how are they?"

Adam raised his head, almost falling asleep, "A few days after you left, they were better…well, Emily of course is giggling and bubbling as she always should." the two smiled.

"That's good to know." he still felt so weird seeing him like this, as if they were having a conversation in his own living room. He tried to get back into a serious attitude,

"So with that said…when are you going back?"

Adam's eyes widened, "What? I just got here a few hours ago."

"I know! But it isn't safe here!"

Adam started to get furious, possibly by the lack of sleep. "Does the fact that I sat 13 hours in a plane just to make sure you were ok mean nothing to you?"

Drew went to speak but Adam continued, "I wanted to have a little visit with my brother-"

"Adam!" Drew interrupted, "It's not like we're on vacation! I'm at _war_!"

Adam bit back his tongue.

"And I can't have you here knowing you left Cathy and Emily alone-" Adam suddenly stood up,

"I DIDN'T LEAVE THEM ALONE! _**YOU**_DID!"

People stared, some not understanding because they only spoke Persian. Drew sat there, staring at him. While he was actually in deep thought, Adam realized the harshness of his words, he bit his lip,

"…I have to get back to my hotel…y-will you visit me here tomorrow?"

Drew had his head in his hand, he looked up at him one last time, "Of course." he stood up, hugging Adam,

"…I just want you safe."

Adam stood there, rubbing Drew's back, "…I guess I want the same for you."

They pulled away, "I have to get back to base. I love you, ok?"

Adam nodded, "I love you to." after a minute or two, Adam walked out of the shack and took a city bus back to his hotel. After he kicked his shoes off, he fell back onto the uncomfortable bed, staring at the ceiling fan. It wasn't helping much as it was probably 100 and something degrees. He looked at the digital clock, it was 4:34 in the afternoon. If Afghanistan was 8 hours ahead, then it was 8 in the morning or so in Toronto. Adam left at about 2 in the morning and fell asleep for 6 hours of the plane ride. So for the past two days, he had only gotten 6 hours of sleep. Of course while Adam was awake on the plane everyone but him was sleeping. And vice versa.

Now he was too awake to sleep. He still had that horrible hot feeling in his stomach after what he said to Drew. He couldn't get over it. He sighed, closing his eyes. Trying to let it go. For some reason, he started to feel a huge sob start up inside of him. He let a tear or two fall out before shoving them away and forcing himself to stop. He turned to his side, laying on his pillow, trying to swallow these anxious feelings inside of him.

Meanwhile at Drew's base, he had just arrived back and Turner was in a row of men for target practice. As he walked by to go get his gun, Turner snuck out of line and grabbed his arm,

"Hey, where were you this morning?"

"The shack…my brothers here…" he was still in disbelief.

His eyes widened, "Your serious?"

"No, 'cause I love walking in 110 degree heat a mile and back for exercise. Yes I'm serious."

"Woah…that's intense."

Drew sighed, "He told me my family's doing ok…Emily especially…it's as if I've just ran to the store."

Turner patted his shoulder, "Well, you've taught her to be brave…"

Drew smirked, that was Turner's way of 'comfort'. "Thanks."

Turner nodded in sympathy,

"You know Adam…when I saw him he…he looked awful."

"Thank god he's not here for you to say that-"

"No I meant, he looked exhausted…like pale, tired…weak."

Turner nodded, "Ok…"

Drew sighed, "I should've talked to him more, like a visit…he just wanted to see if I was ok…"

Turner spoke, "How long is he staying?"

"Few days…I can make it up to him tomorrow."

Turner patted his shoulder once again, "Well…plan out what you want to say." he rushed to get back in line.

Drew didn't feel helped at all, but for now, he forcefully brushed off the thought and ran back to his shelter to grab his gun.

After hours of target practice it was dusk, and Drew was still shooting with his handgun to get the goddamn bulls eye. Turner was leaning against the flagpole nearby,

"Drew come on! It's getting dark, there's no way you'll be able to hit it!"

He didn't respond, he quickly reloaded and fired, after three more times Turner actually started to get irritated,

"If you keep that up you'll give away our spot!"

Just before Drew pulled the trigger, he put it down, he finally caught his breath and got down on his knees, he'd been standing for four hours straight.

Turner crossed his arms, "You ok?"

"I'm fine…" he took off his helmet, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "I'm fucking tired!" He was breathing heavily, he sounded like he was suffocating. Turner ran over, he knelt down next to him,

"Dude…" he put a hand on his shoulder, "My god…you look like a worn out piece of work."

Drew wanted to fight back, but he knew that was the truth. He tried to help Drew up,

"C'mon, you need a break-" he pushed his hand away,

"No, I can get there on my own…I'll meet you there." Turner stood there for a second, then walked away, a worried expression on his face.

Drew tried to stand but couldn't. He was barley sitting upright on his knees. _Every _soldier had a little exhaustion collapse. He assumed it was his turn. While he was supposed to be following behind Turner, he sat there breathing in and out, until the sun was gone.

In Adam's hotel, there was noise in every hall, the clinking of china, maids sweeping down the hallways, conversations in mixed languages. However, Adam didn't hear all of this as he was dead asleep. After nearly 6 years of living in New York, (the city that never sleeps), he learned how to tune _anything _out. His covers weren't on as he wasn't sure how _anyone _in Afghanistan would need covers. He twitched a little in his sleep; all he could hear was Drew's voice, telling him to run. To watch out. He heard these words repeat over in over, not sure what he was talking about nor unable to respond. He heard him call his name and that's when he jerked upward in his bed. He took a second to realize nothing happened, and sighed in relief.

He swung his legs off the bed and looked out the window, he could see everything from up there, the city night lights, the towers. It reminded him of New York. How ever in the far distance he could see the trail that would lead to his brother's troupes camp. Adam was thinking about it earlier but put it off as he felt it was impossible.

To fight in the army; with his brother. He felt it was the only way he could worry less about him dying. But he knew nothing of the army. Nothing about guns, codes, signals. Diddly squat.

He was in good shape, but not good _enough _for the army. If he worked at it he thought maybe something would happen. He closed the curtain and fell back onto his bed. He was about to play the whatever answer he has when he wakes up game again, but he knew exactly what he wanted. He'd go first thing in the morning…and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

-X-

At dawn, Drew woke up in his bed, surprised to find himself there. He sat up to find Turner sitting on the edge of his bed looking at the photo inside his helmet,

"Well someone's up."

He rubbed his head, "When did I get here?"

"You didn't. I found you dead on the ground late last night and dragged your ass here."

Damn…he hoped he actually found the strength and got himself back.

"You wouldn't even budge when I tried to shake you last night."

Drew had a horrible headache. He ignored it as he stood up, "Fuck…I feel like I've been up all night."

Turner chuckled as he turned his helmet around, "That's what you get for wasting your time trying to his a bulls eye."

He rubbed his head again, "Wait…you came back out there looking for me?"

Turner smirked, "Actually, I never went back to the shelter. I stood there behind the wall for three hours. Until you collapsed of course."

Drew had nothing to say.

He had been taking Turner for a pretty laid-back guy. Sometimes too laid back. But he had no idea his friendship meant _that_ much to him. He smirked. He'd never had a friend who cared so much. Not even in high school when it seemed he couldn't be tied any tighter to his friends.

Then again, those friends didn't join the army with him.

A few hours later when the sun was up, the two along with other soldiers were practicing their drilling. They're lieutenant shouting orders as they followed.

"UP STRAIGHT!"

They stood in a salute position,

"GUNS OUT!"

They un strapped their guns throwing them in hand,

"SET AIM!"

They rushed into an aim position.

Drew was the most intense of them. Listening out for every order. As he shouted more orders, he saw two soldiers walk by, in between them…Adam. His head watched him walk by as he mimicked the actions. They were headed to the sergeants office. He was sure he was planning to take Drew out of the army…or something. God knows he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. They continued, but he kept thinking about Adam.

"Sergeant Cassel?"

He had been making bullet shells, he looked at the two soldiers, "Someone here would like to speak to you." They stepped aside and Adam walked up to him, intimidated by his height.

"Who are you?"

Adam gulped, "My name's Adam. Adam Torres."

His eyes widened, "Torres? Like…"

"Yes sir…I'm Drew Torres's younger brother and I ask you something very important…" he breathed in, "I want to join the army."

Cassel paused for a second, he sat down at his desk, after thinking for about a minute, he scanned Adam's body physique.

"Have you taken JROTC?"

That's what Adam was afraid of, "N-no sir."

"Have you trained at boot camp?"

"No sir…"

Cassel closed his eyes, sighing. He knew he'd be saving his life if he did this…

"I'm happy that…you have confidence…and determination…." Adam licked his lips in nervous meant,

"But?"

"But…I can't do this if you have no experience." he opened the door leading outside, "I'm sorr-"

"No."

Cassel turned around, "What?"

"No." he turned around, horrible desperation in his eyes. "I will not leave…until I know I am in this army!" he stood there…horrified at what would happen if he messed with this guys temper.

Thing was…Cassel didn't have much of a temper…he grew up living the hard life and learned how to be quite patient to say the least.

"Listen…Mr. Torres, you are not qualified-"

"I'm not qualified shit! I'm not going until I'm in this army!" Tears in this eyes, either out of his desperation or fear.

"Mr. Torres-"

"I SAID I'M NOT LEAVING!" He stood there, he realized the tears were out of anger. He breathed heavily, heat rising in his stomach and chest, "I'M NOT! I CAME HERE TO FIGHT! AND IF YOU THINK I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH, THEN SO BE IT!…BUT I AM STILL GOING TO JOIN THIS ARMY WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" the two soldiers stared…Cassel stood there, watching the poor boy melt down.

He inhaled…this boy was willing to do anything he thought…even break down and cry in front of the sergeant himself. Adam stood there, breathing heavily as he felt the emotionless tears stream down.

Maybe he didn't have the physical strength…but the mental he began to think…it may work…it'd help to have someone smart and willing…"I have a little test for you."

Adam still stood there, angry tears coming to an end.

Outside all of the soldiers (including Drew) stood in a crowd as Adam stood alone in front of the bulls eye Drew failed to hit the night before. Cassel walked next to him and handed him a gun,

"This is an A-18 pistol. Otherwise known as a handgun." Cassel backed away behind Adam, "Now…lets see how good your range is."

Adam breathed in, the sun glaring down on him, he was exactly 10 feet away from the target. He ignored the people staring at him and held the gun out. Drew watched intensely, trying not to say anything. Adam aimed as carefully as he could for 2 minutes…he was almost positive he had it.

He fired.

A perfect hit.

"Oh my god!" he heard a soldier call. Some of them applauded. Drew sighed in relief…as did Adam. Cassel was impressed. After letting the soldiers finish clapping he spoke,

"Now for drilling!" he walked over to Adam, "Do you know what that is?"

Adam stood there, he'd heard Drew mention it before but he couldn't remember the meaning.

"No?"

Adam nodded.

"It's when you practice shooting and reloading under pressure…people shooting at you from every corner and you can only hold so many bullets at a time."

Drew grew intense again. He knew this was his weak spot…But he had faith in Adam.

"Are you ready?"

Adam nodded, although he was unsure of his decision.

Adam went to raise his gun,

"SET AIM!"

Adam jumped a little, he quickly aimed,

"READY FIRE!"

He fired,

"RELOAD!"

He did as told, as quickly as he could,

"SET AIM!"

Adam quickly went back into position as fast as he could.

"NOW FIRE!"

He shot, beginning to reload as Cassel continued to yell the orders. Adam had never felt to stressed in his life. He did it 15 more times yet he still felt he wasn't getting it right. He repeated these steps for hours until he finally shot one last bulls eye and the target couldn't take any more ammo.

By that point he was breathing heavily. Suddenly Cassel's shadow was over him. He stood next to Adam,

"2.5 seconds…not bad." Adam was still breathing heavily. He walked away. The soldiers watched then looked back at Adam who was still standing there. Drew looked at Adam…he was just as intense as he was. But then Drew realized his worst fear was about to come true;

Adam was in the army.


	5. Chapter 5

_Adam was fitted for the camouflage uniform (which was unbelievably uncomfortable for him) and was given a handgun for his weapon. He insisted he bunk with Drew as he was the only person he knew _in the goddamned base. Drew meanwhile, was watching him get fitted. It was pretty baggy on Adam but all his life he liked things that were baggy.

When the two soldiers walked away, he approached Adam, who despised himself in the uniform, he tapped his shoulder,

"Drew!"

"What the hell was all that?"

He put his head down in shame, "I…I just wanted to make sure you were safe-"

"SO YOU JOINED THE ARMY?"

"It was the only way I could _ensure _nothing bad was happening to you!"

Drew sighed in anger, "This is about the dumbest thing you've done Adam!" Adam didn't respond, hoping Drew would calm down if he gave him a few seconds…

1...

2...

3...

"Look I'm sorry for yelling, but what about Ca-"

"ARE THEY ALL YOU CARE ABOUT ANYMORE? WHAT ABOUT YOUR _BROTHER? _THE ONE THAT'S BEEN WITH YOU ALL YOUR LIFE! NOT A COUPLE OF YEARS!"

That snapped it, and Drew was barley holding back his urge to strangle him, "Adam…they are just as important to me as you are."

"And? You know they'll be fine!" He walked closer to Drew, "If they've been fine for the past few weeks you've been gone, then they can hold off a few more!"

"I don't know-"

"Then _why_? Why did you go to this stupid war that had nothing to with us? HUH?"

Drew didn't say anything, Adam had him dangling over the edge at this point. As much as he hated it…everything Adam was saying was right. He looked at Adam one more time with the anger clear on his face, and walked away. Not even a word.

Adam stood there angry as well, but confused all at the same time. He knew he was screwed the moment he wanted to join. But he wasn't fearful at that point. He wasn't _aloud _to be. However the moment he got that gun in his hand his heart hadn't stopped racing. The fact that he could feel it annoyed him. He knew that this was the point of no return.

Once he was in the army, the only way out was _death_. Every time he stepped out into the open, he expected someone ready to shoot him. But the fact that his brother could stand out in the open perfectly stiff amazed him. But he always had to tell himself, every soldier is scared. Even if its only a little. God knows he knew Drew gets scared every now and then. The worst however was when he threw up before a speech.

However that was something they (or at least Adam) could look back at and laugh at. This was _war_. Nothing was laughable, except for the winning side's victory. Adam sat down, his stomach ached from all the tension. Part of it was doing it all wrong.

He hoped this would bring him and Drew closer.

Ever since they parted for college, he and Drew weren't the same side-by-side brothers who had each others backs. They after he married Cathy and had Emily, it was like he was nothing more than a visiting relative.

He loved Catherine and Emily with all of his heart but Drew's had his back all his life. And currently when they needed each other more than ever, everything was blown out of proportion.

…And Adam blamed himself for it.

Later in the day the sun was beginning to go down and Adam had finished getting everything in order, he stepped outside of his shelter to see Drew standing guard (he had been since he stormed out on Adam). He didn't dare to try to talk to him. He knew how long Drew could hold a grudge, he wasn't even going to bet that he was over it already. He sighed when a hand touched his shoulder,

It was Turner "So this is Drew's mini-me?"

He pushed his hand off, "Not really."

He began to walk away to anywhere he could sit alone but Turner grabbed the back of his shirt, "Hey! For a Torres, you don't talk much…Drew never talks much when something's wrong."

This guy _did _know Drew.

Adam turned around, "We had a fight." Turner nodded, needing no more information, he held up a hand,

"Don't worry…if he knows his brother…he'll get over it."

Adam sighed in guilt, "Actually…I said some nasty things…well, I think they were nasty."

"Again…he'll get over it. Besides, I'm sure I've said worse."

Adam was able to smile, Turner patted his shoulder, "Hey…he'll realize what you did was something no brother would do. And trust me, I know…I have one." He walked off. Adam tried to work up the nerve to talk to Drew but ended up going back inside the shelter, laying on Drew's bed. (He'd be on the top bunk.)

After an hour or so, Adam heard the doors open and jumped into an upright position…it was Drew. He looked at Adam for a second before they both turned away,

"I'll climb up to the top if you-"

"No." he unlatched his helmet, "I want to talk to you."

He sat next to Adam, "I've been thinking and…what you did today….that was impressive."

Adam looked at him confused, "Really?"

"Yeah…guess coming to target practice with me a few times paid off." he patted his shoulder,

Adam smirked, "Guess so…" he still felt an awkward atmosphere.

"Adam…the moment he let you in…I was scared to shit…."

Adam was once again confused, "Really?"

"Yeah I mean…how scared were you when I left-"

Adam snorted, "Oh my god don't even get me started on that…"

"Well I feel exactly the same I bet. God if something happened to you I'd never forgive myself."

Adam sat there in wonder, the exact same feelings he felt…Even though it wouldn't necessarily be his fault…Adam would blame himself for _everything _that happened to his brother.

"Thanks."

He patted Adam's back, "Anytime bro."

Adam sighed, "So…what do you usually do now?"

Drew began to get into a laying position, "Since we have time; sleep."

Adam laughed, he didn't even know they were aloud to use the word sleep in the army.

He climbed onto the top bunk, "See you in the morning?"

"About two A.M."

They laughed for the first time in quite a while. Adam gazed at the ceiling for a while, "Drew?"

"Yeah?

"While I'm here, lets not talk about bad things…please."

Drew turned onto his back, he sighed, "Well…bad things are all that happen in war."

-X-

It was about midnight and the three, (Turner having arrived later) were dead to the world. However Adam was probably going to wake up not remembering where he is. Drew turned to his side letting his hand dangle off the bed. However something broke through his sleep that sounded like Arabic.

He could've assumed it was a half dream but they sounded too close for his liking. He woke himself up and sat up to listen…it was definitely Arabic he was hearing…whispering.

He had a horrible feeling in his stomach as he got out of bed and grabbed his gun which was tucked under his bed in unbelievable slow motion. He snuck across the room to the doors as not to wake either of the two up and to ensure no one could hear him.

He made it to the doors in what felt like hours to hear the strangest of words, and indistinct whispering…they all sounded like young men…after calculating the different voices there were about three. (outside their shelter anyway). Right then, he heard a small click. After the click, slow high pitched beeps. He couldn't figure out what was going on until it hit him,

"OH SHI-"

It was a grenade, and it went off. The small shelter came to a crash a Turner was knocked out of his bed as was Adam. Turner rushed next to Drew wide awake, they were covered in ash and burn marks,

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

They could hear more yelling and gunshots outside, "It's an invasion! Shit! Grab your gun!" Turner grabbed it and latched on his helmet after making sure the photo inside was ok, "Adam! Adam where are you?"

"An-drew!" He could hear a weak voice call with a cough breaking it up, he could see a pile of rubble with it moving, SHIT!

"ADAM!" he leaped over and began throwing everything to a corner, "Oh my god-ADAM! Are you ok?"

He finally got a hold of Adam's hand and he was able to pull him out from under, Adam was wincing in pain,

"Are you ok?"

Adam was breathing heavily, his back and neck felt shattered and he was sure his other arm was still caught underneath something,

"I'm not sure."

Drew helped him up, he brought him into a forced embrace, "You need to stay here!"

Adam coughed a few more times, "No!"

"Look at me! There's a small shelter underground hidden near by the sergeants office! I want you to go, and I want you to stay! Understand?" he and Adam were nose to nose.

Adam nodded, "Absolutely not!" he didn't seem to give a fuck if something was pulled, that he could barely stand nor by the fact that he was covered in gashes and scrapes.

He brought Adam so he could see nothing but his eyes, "Look at me…I'm not asking you! GO!" With his trust, he ran outside, Adam stood there in disbelief…the entire reason he came blown by his brother. But he was an adult and he wasn't under _his _rules anymore. He grabbed a machine gun he found and ran out as well.

There was more than a dozen Libyans fighting, Drew not sure who was on who's side. He found Turner nearby the radio deck guiding the missiles, he crouched down with him,

"Any tanks?"

"No. But we have a plan…" he pointed outward, "You see that guy? That's their captain."

Drew winced in confusion, hardly ever wanting to take part in Turner's plans, "And?"

"And he's out target because without a captain," Drew remembered this quote and joined Turner, "The ship is full of rats."

To them, this meant that without their captain, they would be disorderly and have no idea what to do. Drew took the walkie talkie and began to speak to the launcher.

Unbeknownst to Drew, Adam was near the flag pole, not moving like Drew said but shooting as many people as he could. He turned around to reload in super human speed. Right as he finished something smacked his shoulder,

"Ai!"

he turned around, directly in front of him to Afghani soldiers stood,

"Esm e shoma chist?"

"…What?"

They were speaking Persian, which unfortunately Adam had no knowledge about.

"Shoma ahleh koja hastid?" One of them screamed at him. Adam jumped back a little,

"I'm sorry! I don't understand what your say-"

One of them grabbed his wrist, so tight that Adam was sure it would break,

"In chieh? Ke Donbale Libya migardam?"

Adam's head began to hurt (no where near as much as his wrist) but he couldn't think of anything to say,

"No no! I don't know…let me go!" he tried to shake them off but it was useless, he yanked Adam forward as the other soldier spoke, anger in his tone,

"Ba man bia."

Drew and Turner were still targeting the captain, the missile launcher spoke,

"Can you give me an exact location?"

As Drew was about to respond he looked to his left, he saw Adam holding onto the flag pole with one hand and something holding the other,

"NO DON'T! DON'T TAKE ME!" he could hear him scream, he was holding onto the pole for dear life and he saw the two men,

"Torres! Location!"

He jumped he coordinated it then rushed his words, watching Adam's hand slowly slip…

"Yes! 35 degrees south…" Adam's hand slipped more as Drew began talking faster, "and 58 degrees west Located at 35 degrees south," Adam let go, he was being dragged away, "AND 59 DEGREES WEST!" He threw the walkie talkie into Turners hand and ran off,

"DREW!"

"IS THAT IT?" He heard over the mic,

"YES! LAUNCH!"

It fired, as Drew was running, the impact of the force when it hit the ground caused him to topple over, he could hear even more frantic yells and stayed at cover for a few seconds,

"STOP!" he could hear Adam's voice, he pulled himself up and dashed after them,

"KOMAKAM!" Drew screamed waving his hand at them, thank god for the three years of Persian. They continued to drag him,

"DREW!"

He pulled Adam away from them as they struggled to take him back. The one who had Adam's wrist spoke, "In chieh?"

He had Adam's arm, who was more stressed than he was "Mitoonam ke komaketoon konam," he pointed to Adam, "Man gom shodam!"

One of their eyes widened, "Shodam?"

"Baleh!"

They finally let go of Adam's arm, leaving a bruise, they had desperation in their eyes,

"Bebakhshid! Bebakhshid!" It was the Persian word for 'sorry'. He took Adam by the arm and they ran.

"Where are we going?" they were far from the battle zone and Drew opened a cellar like door,

"Get in now!"

"Bu-"

"GO!"

Adam was becoming frightened by Drew's constant yelling. Then again he should be grateful at the moment considering he saved him from being kidnapped. He rushed in with Drew behind him, slamming the doors shut leaving pitch black darkness. They listened to the frantic yelling and gunshots. Their ears were popping at the fires of the shotgun rifles. After hours things began to quiet down albeit arguments in Persian and Arabic.

Adam finally said something after getting his heart beat to calm down, "What were they saying?"

Drew turned to him, "You mean just now-"

"No. When they were…" they jumped at the sudden sounds of gunshots and yelling once more,

"Trying to take me."

Drew sat next to him, "They thought you were a spy for Libya, I told them you were my brother." He took in a breath, "They were going to _kill _you Adam god forbid I hadn't come!" he yelled making sure Adam got his point,

"I wanted to fight!" he stood up, "That's the reason I joined the army Andrew-"

"You shouldn't even be here in the first place! Do you see what could've happened if I wasn't there-"

"But you were-"

"WHAT IF I WASN'T?"

If he wasn't then they wouldn't be having that conversation at the moment.

"Look, in a suburban house, or in the fucking army! As the younger brother, you are _my_ responsibility!"

"Drew…" he finally decided to let it out, "I'M NOT EIGHT YEARS OLD I'M TWENTY SEVEN! _**TWENTY SEVEN**__!_ I DON'T BELONG TO ANYONE!" He walked up to Drew, "I'M OLD ENOUGH TO BE MAKING MY OWN FUCKING DECISIONS!" he smacked Drew's chest when he let out 'fucking'.

Drew bit his lip in irritation as Adam's chest was full of lava. He shoved Drew out of the way and went up the little stairs,

"Where are you go-"

"I didn't come here to hide Drew!" he opened the doors and stormed out of Drew's sight. He grew somewhat panicked and followed after him, trying to remain casual. When he got out, it was dawn, his soldiers arresting the Libyans that either weren't killed nor escaped. He caught up to Adam,

"Adam! Listen to-" he tried to put a hand on his shoulder which was forcefully shrugged off, he let Adam walk out of sight. Drew sighed in irritation,

"Torres!" He saw a crowd of soldiers lifting a stretcher, it was sergeant Cassel who called him, he ran over,

"Yes sir?"

He put a hand on his shoulder, a deep look of sympathy, "…You may want to see this…" he walked over to the soldiers to find Turner on the stretcher, bruised, bleeding, the most gruesome thing he'd ever seen,

"No-!"

"Drew…"

Drew pulled his own hair, it couldn't be happening. He turned away for just a second, trying to gather himself. He looked back,

"Turner,"

He held out a hand, the only thing left stable, Drew held it,

"Thanks for everything buddy." he tried to smile, shaking the hand. Drew tried to keep himself together, he squeezed the hand,

"Your gonna make it."

Turner casually nodded which bothered Drew, "I wouldn't be so sure…"

Drew welted up a little, trying to keep his tears in his eyes, "Don't say tha-"

"Hey…" he attempted to gesture his head a little towards the bases, "My helmets over there…I want you to check the photo…and tell me if my brothers ok."

Drew nodded, he rushed over and peeked inside of it, he walked back over with it in hand, "He's gonna be ok." he forced a smile.

"Good…" he barley lifted his head, "Listen…don't ever let your brother…not even for a second, think that you don't care about him."

Drew laughed tearfully, "I can say I've done that part-"

"But…let him have his independence…" his voice started to fade, "Please…"

He finally used up the last of his energy that was keeping him awake, he fell back, heavy breaths as seen from his chest,

"LETS GO!" the soldiers ran off with the stretcher, Drew stood there, tears crawling through, he dropped the helmet and walked off to wherever he could be alone…

He had lied…

The photo was torn, and a bullet mark straight through Turner's brother.


	6. Chapter 6

**XFurubaX: Hey guys! Thank you for the support on the last few chapters! : ) So happy you are loving it! I will never do a story with Persian in it again…guh…..nor will I ever trust google translator again. Sorry for posting this the night directly after. Short chapter but I'd appreciate if you helped get me to 20 reviews! : )**

Turner didn't make it.

He'd been hit in a vital point and lost too much blood and was dead by the time the sun was finally in the sky.

Drew mourned by himself as he sat by the flagpole, tears blurring everything in his vision out.

He met Turner when he was 18...10 years they've known each other… He remembered how they met as if it were yesterday.

It was boot camp and they were standing next to each other in the rows of soldiers when practicing drilling. It was their third week at camp and they never uttered a single word to each other. They were standing in line when the general Jankowski was ordering them. He walked up and down the long row,

"For the next two weeks, you will practice recon! In other words, scouting. This will be a great way to get useful information that we could use to destroy, the other side. In other words…spying."

Drew felt the need to speak out at that point, "Sir! Permission to speak sir!"

"Permission granted." he stood in front of Drew,

"A thought sir, what if the other team is _planning _out arrival?"

"Repeat…Torres is it?"

"What I mean sir, is what if they are aware of our recon system and provide false information-"

"Highly unlikely!" he began to walk back down the row, Drew spoke out once again,

"I think you should take this into consideration sir-"

"The point of recon Torres is for them _not _to know!"

"And the point of theirs _is _to know-"

"I've heard enough!"

Turner, who had been paying attention to the conversation the whole time spoke out next,

"I agree with him!"

Jankowski turned to walk back down the other way, "Thank you Turn-"

"No! I mean with Torres sir!"

Drew looked surprised as he tried to stand stiff,

"What's that?"

"Torres is right sir! It is rational to keep in mind that they have a recon as well, and if they are able to plan our arrival, can provide us with the false information they have in store."

There was a brief silence, Drew turned his head back facing forward as Jankowski walked up to Turner. Jankowski was the kind of guy who _hated _being pointed out wrong, and his temper was TNT waiting to explode.

He was about to call Turner out when sergeant Cassel stepped in, "Jankowski…" he gestured him over to the door and walked in front of the row,

"For the rest of the afternoon, I want you to run 10 miles." As they began to step out the door he called, "Except for Torres and Gray!" Gray was Turner's last name. They walked over to him, "You two stay here and clean up." he marked winking and he along with the rest of the troupe left.

They mopped the shelter while everyone else was gone when Turner spoke to Drew for the first time,

"You know, you've got some guts to fight back with Jankowski."

Drew snickered, "And you've got guts for agreeing with me."

"I swear that guy was born a general, I wonder what he was like as a kid."

"He'd scream and cry because his bottle wasn't warm I bet."

The two laughed. Turner stopped,

"So you're from Toronto to?"

"Yup, grew up there my whole life, me, my mom, dad,…and my brother." he smiled.

"Oh really?"

"Yup, he's 17. His name's Adam."

"Adam huh?" he leaned against a wall, "I got a brother…3 years old…he means everything to me."

"My god…15 years apart?"

Turner nodded, snorting. "He's the cutest little bugger though…looks just like me."

The two laughed once more. "So your…Torres?"

"Drew's the name." he held out a hand,

"Turner." they shook.

And it all started from there. As long as they had each other, they always felt war would be fine.

But now it was all gone.

He pushed the tears away with his finger tips and held a breath. He watched as they were packing all of Turner's things into a locker in which they would send home.

An empty, gaping hole formed in his stomach as he watched the soldiers and Cassel take it away. Many of them holding their helmets off in respect. Drew was not among them as he was still at the flagpole…Adam was no where to be found either…

He began to think…what if that was Adam on the stretcher…what if those were Adam's things they were packing?

God knows Drew wouldn't be able to live with himself if it was…

He had finally lost all of his tears and stood up, walking around the pole just thinking.

Negative thoughts swarmed in his head, what if he hadn't seen Adam being taken? What if he and Adam didn't make it to the shelter?…

What if Adam was killed right after the huge blow out the night before?

Turner's words echoed in his head. Up to the point where it was starting to bother him.

Right then he wanted to see Adam. More than anyone else. He checked the shelter and he wasn't there. He checked the small café and still no sign of him. He walked up to a Persian soldier,

"Bebakhshid, man donbale Adam migardam."

"Adam…Ai! Mostaghim boro ba'ad be Chap."

"Mamnoon."

He was alone practicing his targets. Drew walked up behind him and watched. Adam was striking and reloading the target not caring if he hit the bulls eye or not. Drew didn't say anything as Adam didn't notice him.

He couldn't tell if Adam was practicing reloading quickly enough or if he was just shooting out of anger.

After 3 minutes of watching him, he could feel someone behind him, it was Cassel.

"You doing ok Torres?"

He turned around, "I'm better. Thank you sir."

They both watched Adam, Cassel had a feeling of what Drew was thinking,

"…Your brother's got your talent…your wit."

Drew didn't say anything as Adam continued to shoot unaware of what was going on behind him.

"Indeed he does…possibly smarter than me…stronger." he started to think, all their lives Adam's always had the true strength in the family, the courage to go face the world everyday. And while Adam was seeing everyday as a blessing, Drew had been bypassing life like it was something one could buy at a store.

Cassel put a hand on his shoulder, "He is pretty brave to come out here like this…not knowing what the hell will happen nor what's to be expected of him. Then of course, what _you _would think when you found out."

Drew still didn't respond.

"I know you want to protect him Torres, any brother would…" he sighed, "But you can't be over his shoulder every second…he's gotta learn how to face the world some day."

He looked back out at Adam, "He's a warrior. You just got to let him be one." He walked away, leaving Drew to watch Adam until the afternoon.

-X-

That night they were setting up a camp outside as their shelter was destroyed. Drew gave Adam a sorrowful look as Adam gave him his 'sorry' look. They both awkwardly and silently set up sleeping packs next to each other until Drew raised his head,

"Adam…"

Adam raised a brow to let him know he was listening.

"I know I've been a little overprotective lately but…I'm sorry."

Adam raised both brows in surprise and looked at him.

"I just…" he took a breath, emotional by all that's been happening, "I want you to live Adam…that's all I want. I just…love you so much."

Adam just looked at him. He went to straightening out his sleeping bag and returned to facing Drew, taking a breath. "…I love you to."

Drew, for the first time in a while, smiled.

"Everything's been so…hard lately…it made me forget right and wrong I guess. Right now I just want to be home if you want to know the truth."

Drew took his hand, "I wanted to be home the moment I got here. With you…Emily…Catherine…" he sighed, "I wonder if they're doing ok."

"You chose the right girl to marry…she's strong…and Emily…I bet she is to."

"You don't know how badly I'd like to hear her laugh right now…or to, to be woken up in the middle of the night because she's crying or…anything from her."

Adam nodded in sympathy, "I'd like to wake up every morning not worrying if your dead or not."

The two snickered.

"…My god…the things war does to you psychologically…" Adam remarked amazed.

Drew laughed, "It's crazy."

"It's insane."

They laid down, "Drew…why did you want to join the army in the first place?…I never understood that."

Drew held his mouth agape…he'd never truly thought of the reason _why_ but he knew it wasn't for the uniforms. "It just seemed like a way to get closer to a better world…"

Adam winced in confusion.

"Like…the good guys against the bad guys."

Adam was still confused, "But…what if your on _their _side? Saying that?"

Drew didn't want to think about that. He'd had that argument with himself about that many times, and never found a solution.

"I don't know…" he turned to his side. "Good night Adam."

Adam turned away from him, "Night Andrew."


	7. Chapter 7

Drew was dead asleep.

The world could end around him and he still wouldn't wake up. He'd never been more tired in his life. Adam was nearly the same as him, only he kept dozing in and out of sleep for fear of another attack. Everything was silent.

Nothing audible but the wind.

It was a moment where someone would say that its 'too quiet'.

Drew however turned to his side, actually waking up for a second. He could see Adam asleep, using folded blankets as a pillow. He looked peaceful which was a relief to Drew as he couldn't have Adam screaming in his sleep to attract attackers. He was about to fall back asleep but he forced himself to hold his eyes open, blinking rapidly to stay awake.

He finally realized it, he had missed his brother. So painfully.

He'd never once in his life imagined them in Afghanistan fighting together. Let alone imagined them in Afghanistan period. He gently and slowly rubbed his head, not disturbing him even a little. He felt like they were knocked back 20 years. He was 8 and Adam was 7...asleep in their beds when they shared a room. He scooted in and kissed his cheek.

He'd never felt closer to him in his life. He was starting to realize how lucky he was to have a brother who loved him enough to join the army with him. His brother was loyal to him his whole life. But he had no idea he'd go to _these _lengths.

Drew then began to wonder what would Adam would've done if Drew was in a sunken and leaking submarine. God knows that Adam would give his _life _if it meant rescuing someone he loved.

He scooted back away and turned so he wasn't facing Adam directly. The only light visible was the moon light. And it was bright as hell that night. He could see the silhouettes of men standing on guard only. He could hear the soft chirping of a cricket. It chirped in such a rhythm that it slowly hypnotized Drew back to sleep.

Then was felt like seconds later although it had been an hour; there was a massive explosion.

Drew was immediately to his feet.

He could see his troupes stampeding towards the Libyans. It was more people than the last time. To make matters worse once he had found his gun which had been knocked a few feet away from him, he could see a tank.

"Adam lets go!"

He looked back where Adam was once laying, he, along with his gun were gone. He ran out farther into the field, looking in every direction,

"ADAM!"

No sign of him, everyone, was too preoccupied in killing everyone in sight and trying to destroy the tank. It was the bloodiest night of Drew's life. He ran, shooting anyone that came in his way.

As he was doing so, a Libyan made a tight grab for Drew's gun. After a brief-four second struggle, Drew beamed him straight in the head with the end of his gun, leaving him with a bloody mark. He began to back up away from the body only to run into someone, he shot around, it was Cassel.

"Sergeant! Have you seen my brother?" Cassel himself had a gun in his hand. It was a grenade launcher.

"No Torres! I have not!" he pulled Torres next to him as they crouched down.

"Did you see him when the tank fired-"

"No Torres! For now we have to get rid of that thing!" he fired into the middle of the battlefield,

"GRENADE! GET DOWN!" A soldier yelled, but before some of them could duck, they were killed/knocked over by the explosion.

"Damn!" Cassel yelled to himself.

"Sir! If I don't find him I-"

"Listen to me Torres! We have to destroy that tank! If we don't, it won't just be the end for him!"

Drew sat there for a moment, taking in what he just said…what happened to Adam wasn't important to anyone at the moment…but if the tank were to kill them all…

Drew stood up and ran through the firing raid. He could see the tank, it had only launched one missile since it arrived but there was some one firing the rifle at the top. Drew grabbed his machine gun and aimed. As he was running he made one clean shot, knocking the man off the tank. Leaving the tank itself. He found a small part of rubble he could crouch behind, waiting to see their next move.

"I SAID YOUR NOT!" He could hear in the distance. It sounded like Adam. In hope and plea he turned towards the noise. It was Adam having a hand on fight with his gun with a Libyan soldier.

Adam struggling to yank the gun back, holding it horizontally with both hands as the Libyan taunted him.

They were halfway away from where Adam was standing by the time Adam was finally loosing his grip. Then he realized…the muzzle was aimed towards the Libyan. He struggled as he tried to lay a finger on the trigger, but right as he lost his hold, his finger slipped, pulling the trigger…blowing the soldiers head off completely. He didn't pay any mind to the body and picked up his gun. Drew stood up out of hiding,

"Adam!"

He turned around, "Yeah?" he called casually, reloading, Drew ran up to him. Adam didn't know what was coming until Drew squeezed his arms around Adam, making it uncomfortable.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." he mumbled. It took Adam a second but he found himself holding Drew as well, completely forgetting about everything that was going on around them.

"I told you…" he pulled away, "I can make my own decisions."

The two smiled,

"SHIT GO OUT!" they could hear someone calling. They turned their heads towards the noise. The missile launcher of the tank was aimed right at them. And It fired. They tried to react as the missile seemed to travel in slow motion. Panicked they tried to run in separate directions but Adam ended up tripping, in a panic, and Drew of course not thinking grabbed his arm and pulled him the opposite way he was going.

It hit.

They were knocked a foot away, Drew landing on his chest, he could hear Adam's sickening groan of pain. He tried to get up but was only able to crawl, he could see Adam struggling to roll over onto his back, an agonizing expression on his face.

"Adam!" he slowly got his energy back and was able to run over to him, he knelt over him, "Adam!" he lifted his head as Adam was groaning in pain and crying.

"Where does it hurt? Tell me!"

Adam could barley speak, he was covered in gashes and burn marks. Drew was only bruised and had moderate burn marks. He sniffled, "My leg." Drew went to check, pulling up the pants leg,

"Oh my god! It _HURTS_!"

He couldn't tell Adam what it was, his leg had been skimmed to the bone…nothing that couldn't be treated but he knew Adam wouldn't be able to relax. He pulled the pants leg back down, he held Adam's head up again, shushing him,

"It's ok, your gonna be fine."

Sergeant Cassel arrived, having seen the two knocked over by the launch.

"Torres!" he saw Adam and knelt down, "Is he alright?"

"Sir, he's bleeding. He needs help." he lifted his pants leg, "Please!" Cassel was horrified at the sight, he saw two of their Afghani troupes near by,

"AI! SHOAM MITOONI KE KOMAKAM KONID!"

They ran over, Cassel instructed them, "ye doktor meekhalyim," he pointed to Adam, who was still in pain as Drew tried to let him know he was there, "tameez ye khoon ke baandey zakhm!"

They nodded in agreement and lifted Adam by wrapping his arms around his necks, "Meetonee vaaysee?" one of them asked him, he didn't know how to respond,

"I don't know." he had finally stopped the tears now breathing in pain. "Drew are you coming?" he closed his eyes, it somehow made his leg hurt less. Drew remained where he stood.

"…No. I can't."

Adam immediately raised his head, "What?" he shook his arms as much as he could to tell them to stop, he made them turn him around so he could face Drew,

"What are you saying?" his heart began to pound.

Drew stood there…emotion filling up from his stomach to his head, "…I'm saying goodbye…Adam. After they treat you, you can go home-"

Adam shook his head, "N-NO! You have you come home with me!"

"Adam-"

"Please! Andrew your family needs you! _I _need you! You've done enough here now PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME!"

He walked closer to Adam, "Stop-" he began to welt up in horrible grief,

"YOU CANT JUST ABANDON ME LIKE THIS ESPECIALLY WHE-"

Drew and Adam were eyes to eyes, he put his hand behind Adam's neck and forcefully pulled him into a kiss. The two soldiers not commenting as all families had ways of showing affection. Drew let a tear fall out as he pulled away. Adam's eyes were turning red from the tears building up.

"I love you… my brother." after taking a second, he turned and ran off, the two soldiers began to pull him towards the medical exhibit when he started to struggle,

"No!" he looked out at Drew, "STOP! **STOP**!"

Drew kept running, trying to find any loaded gun that was laying around and all the sudden, he felt a harsh sting to his chest. He fell to his knees as he yelled out in pain. He had been shot in the chest. He slapped his hand over the small wound, it barley missed his heart.

Adam didn't notice as all he could see was Drew heading towards the tank on his knees. They struggled to pull him away as Adam continuously fought back with all he could.

Drew was positive he had been shot…and boy did it hurt. He could see a machine gun laying in the open hand of a dead soldier. He scooted over on his knees and grabbed it. Three bullets left.

He saw the gas pipe of the tank.

Fight fire with fire he thought.

He got down on his chest albeit making it bleed faster when he did and aimed steadily.

"ANDREW! ANDREW!" Adam was still fighting although he was losing.

Andrew's vision blurred but he still felt he had a clear shot. He fired round one. He missed as it ricocheted off of the pipe itself. He had to get it _in _the pipe.

Adam was now just screaming, both in pain and at how he was getting farther and farther from Drew.

He fired round two. It rebounded once again.

Now it was only one.

Adam found himself crying again as he was able to free an arm from around a soldiers neck and hold it out trying to run. But they grabbed him. He wouldn't have been able to run anyway with his leg, he'd simply topple over.

Drew could feel it coming to an end, but he wasn't over. He aimed one last time, one clean shot.

"Fire…"

He pulled the trigger.

There was a massive explosion as the gasoline engine exploded and the tank was now in pieces. Burning everything in its way.

"**NO!" **Adam would be left mute after that horrible scream. Cassel unlatched his helmet after the explosion simmered down.

An Afghani soldier smiled as he screamed in delight. All the others joined in, raising their guns in the air. Shouting, hugging, singing the Afghani national anthem.

The bloodiest night of their lives was over.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Adam found himself in a weird realm of darkness for a matter of seconds before coming back to reality. Only his leg was in bandages and he was in the most uncomfortable bed he'd ever been in. He looked around trying to focus his surroundings. He was in a hospital. That would maybe explain why he had tubes up his arms and nose. He saw two, beautiful, Afghani women talking out by the door of his room,

"Uh…" he wasn't sure, "Hey…" they didn't respond. "Uh-…he tried to remember the words but couldn't, "E-excuse me?" he called. One of the women walked over with a confused expression,

"Koomakam?"

"…I'm sorry, I don't speak Persian." she only seemed more confused, "…Could you please tell me where I am?"

She began going on in Persian but he couldn't understand, it sounded like gibberish to him. Then, he saw a familiar face, it was sergeant Cassel. He instructed her in Persian to leave.

"Sergeant-"

"Your in a hospital…they saved you thank god but it wasn't easy."

Adam sat up as much as he could, "W-when did I get here?"

"Well…you fainted-after the tank was shot we carried you over here."

Adam took a minute to himself, the last thing he remembered was everything going black right after Drew shot-DREW!

"Drew!"

Cassel knew what was about to happen and he leaned closer to lay his head down, "Adam plea-"

"Is Drew ok? Tell me please!"

"Torres-"

Tears built up in his eyes, "He has to be alive! No one can take him down that easily he has to be-"

"Torres!"

He felt his lip quiver as his heart started to race. Cassel couldn't look at Adam, he turned away.

He took in a breath, "…we never found his body…we assume Libyans have kidnapped him…and possibly killed him." he closed his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

Tears slowly dropped from his eyes as he felt a horrible heat mixed with pain in his chest. He breathed in,

"I don't believe it."

Cassel was able to look at him, although not liking the picture, he held a hand out, "Here."

Adam took it with both hands, bawling into it. Cassel took a second to himself, un denying sympathy for the boy.

"**ANDREW!"** Adam screamed over his tears and gasp-like sobs.

"Drew!"

"No…" he continued to waterfall the tears out, "No…god no!"


	8. Chapter 8

It was 3 weeks until Adam recovered and was able to walk again. He still wasn't done mourning. He was currently on the plane ride, hand over his mouth and eyes closed. Trying to think of how he'd tell his family.

He was imagining it all wrong. He hoped he'd be able to remain calm when he spilt the truth but he knew he'd cry all over again. He was about to cry right then just thinking about it. He'd been on the plane for 3 hours, leaving 10 more. He had plenty of time to get some more bitter tears he still had out.

He wanted Drew to hold him so desperately that moment. It was the one thing he wanted. He covered his eyes, leaning over a bit.

He cried softly to himself, "Andrew." he couldn't help but whisper to himself. He leaned back in his chair, swiping the tears away, trying to hold them in the best he could.

When he arrived home, it was only 10 in the morning. Ironically, Adam was ready to go to sleep. He took a taxi home, not bothering to call Cathy (actually forgetting to) and welted up thinking about her face when he'd have to tell her.

After he dropped him off outside of her house, he couldn't look at it the same way. Normally he'd be coming to visit Drew. But now he was at _Drew's _home to tell his wife about _Drew's _death. He hesitated to ring the doorbell, also concerned if Emily was taking a nap or not. He knocked and waited for about 6 seconds. His stomach flipped a bit when he could hear the locks.

And yet when he saw Cathy, he had never felt such adrenaline in his body before in his life. Her facial expression changed from curious, to thrill immediately.

"Oh my god!" She embraced him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. She buried her face into his shoulder for a second, overjoyed by his return, she breathed in as if crying…she was.

"Your ok! Oh my god! Tell me what the hell happened!"

Adam held an expression of guilt as she let him in. Emily was indeed napping in the upstairs nursery. They had coffee and were sitting on the couch.

"So…for the past three weeks I've been in recovery, you could still see the stitch if I wasn't wearing jeans…and now I can walk again."

She breathed in, having a hard time taking all of that in. "That's unbelievable…" she sipped her coffee as Adam gulped.

"…W-where's Drew?"

Adam's head was turned down at his coffee, he looked at her with her eyes, they were forming tears. He didn't respond.

She put her coffee down, "Adam-"

He put his down, taking her hand. He breathed in, crying as if it was the night all over again "…Catherine…" he couldn't do it, but something inside of him forced him, "Andrew is dead."

He did better than he imagined, but now Cathy was growing more hysterical than him. Her tears bigger, face more distraught, she had nothing else to say, "…no."

Adam began to cry hardly again as he nodded a sad 'yes'. He pulled her in for a hug, as she buried her face into his knees. He gently laid his head down on her back as they cried. No longer wishing to hide the tears he bawled with her.

"Drew come back!" she yelled in a disoriented way due to the crying.

They spend the next three hours in tears until they finally had enough. While Cathy was washing her eyes as Adam stood in the master bedroom…on the desk on Cathy's side, was a photo of her and Drew on their wedding. She was dressed in the most beautiful white gown with long see-through sleeves with the beautiful diamond ring Drew spent all of his money on for her.

He put the photo down…he couldn't look at Drew just yet. He suddenly heard baby calls from the nursery…he wasn't ready for this yet. But he found himself dragging himself to the nursery. Literally dragging his feet he was so tired.

And there was Emily.

She was laying in her crib smiling at the ceiling. He got up all of his nerve and peered into the crib. Emily was still just as beautiful. She immediately smiled and started waving her arms at him, making happy baby calls.

He tearfully smiled upon seeing her again, "Hi Emily." he picked her up holding her in an embrace as he rocked her. She giggled. Cathy walked in, smiling softly to see him holding her. She hugged Emily from the other side, the three of them were suddenly in a small embrace as Adam tried to hold his smile as he kept crying.

Later on when it was about 5 in the afternoon, Adam was exhausted, readjusting to the time change. He kept rubbing his eyes.

He'd called his mother. Horribly distraught by the news, Adam had to listen to her break down on the other side of the phone. He knew for a fact he was _don_e crying. He'd cried too much for the past few weeks. Then after his mother was done he listened to his father break down 10 times worse than she did.

Drew and his dad were everything to each other. He was the first one to push him on when he wanted to join the army. The one who taught him how to throw a football. The one who next to Adam, always had his back.

Now to get a _phone call _that he died in the army? It was the worst possible way to hear it next to in person.

"I know dad…I miss him to…No I don't know if there'll be a funeral… I love you to…bye." He had spend an hour and 7 minutes on the phone with his parents. He proceeded to lay down in the guest rooms bed. He was so tired and it was almost 7. He remembered going through this in Afghanistan. He closed his eyes until he heard Emily crying.

As a natural reaction, he sat up and went to go tend to her but Cathy walked out of the office,

"No no, I've got it."

"…Kay." he watched her go upstairs. He found himself sitting on the steps, waiting for her to come back. It was only 5 minutes and she sat next to him. She put herself in a forced embrace with him, wrapping her arm around him and laying her head on his shoulder. They rocked back and forth gently for a good 15 minutes.

-X-

Adam dreamed of Andrew that night. He dreamed he was saying his goodbye one last time. But he didn't know it was a dream and he tried to get him to stay, trying to pull him onto the land of the living. Meanwhile, he was clenching his bed sheets and making a faint, whimpering sound in his sleep.

"Drew-" he jerked upward in his bed, a shocked gasp escaped as he let out another breath. He looked at the digital clock, 2:03 A.M. He got out of bed and walked into the downstairs bathroom. He gazed at his reflection, he was sweaty, eyes exhausted from crying for the past 3 weeks still had some burn marks from the battle. He sat on the floor, sighing. He still couldn't calm down. To try and get his mind on something else, he lifted his pants leg and gazed at the stitch that ran from his ankle to an inch away from his knee cap. He traced it with the edge of his finger, still not getting his mind off the fact that he killed Drew-

That…the Libyans killed Drew.

Adam had horrible guilt…he let Drew die he told himself. If he had fought harder for the two soldiers to let go he could've done something. If he hadn't stood in the way of the mother fucking tank he'd be alive right then. He'd been having this problem ever since he checked out of the hospital. A psychiatrist had a word for it; Survivors Guilt. Although Adam said he had himself to blame for it. He'd done nothing to help Drew when he died.

That's the best he could do? Cry and faint?

He couldn't live with himself anymore…

After a quiet search in the kitchen, he found Cathy's ibuprofens in the cabinet…18 in one hand.

It was over in seconds.


	9. Chapter 9

Cathy found Adam's body the morning after. She found out it wasn't the pills that killed him. He started to have a seizure and he fell…hit his head and cracked his skull against the kitchen counter.

For the past few days she hadn't said a word. She'd only smile at Emily. Absolutely no talking. She wasn't sure what to say to Emily however. She didn't know how'd she react. But fuck, she's only a few months old…how the hell is she supposed to remember this?

She hadn't called her parents nor the Torres's about Adam. They had already heard about their first son dying, no use that their second committed suicide. On this one particular morning, Emily woke her up at 6 A.M. and was feeding her breakfast by 6:30. Emily smiled and giggled as she attempted to seem cheerful and feed her spoon full's of mush.

Then that's when she got the ring from the door, she was confused but got up anyway, "One second sweetheart." she whispered. She unlocked it and pulled the lock chain off and opened it. Her heart was racing and her stomach turned. Her eyes widening and filling with tears.

Drew.

"Hello Catherine…"

She couldn't talk, she screamed throwing herself, hysterical, into his arms, burying her face into his neck. He cried himself having her in his arms again. They held each other for…needless to say, a long time before he held Emily. He was more hysterical than Cathy once he was holding her,

"Daddy's home sweetie." he cried with her in an embrace, "Daddy's home."

-X-

Drew had a 45 minute phone call with his parents explaining everything to them as Cathy went to wash her eyes out once again, having the ugliest face when she cried. When she came back down, she gleefully threw herself in her arms once again. He carried her over to the couch while Emily was in her play crib.

"How the hell are you alive?" she blatantly asked.

He lowered the collar of his shirt a tad, showing her the two stitches. "I took a bullet…but after the tank exploded…I passed out…should've been dead but it was only blood loss."

"…oh my-"

"Listen to this! The Libyans, healed me!" Cathy's eyes widened in confusion,

"When they saw me laying by what was left of the tank they thought _I _was the driver!" tears were in his eyes, "I guess there is such thing as luck." she hugged him once again. She had her family back…and by a sort-of miracle. But she pulled away…she didn't tell him…he sat up.

"So where's Adam?"

**The End**


End file.
